Pandemic: Resident Evil VI

Chapter Twenty: The Factory

Now that the second battle for the city had moved farther away, there was less need for the two of them to sneak around, which was nice because getting shot at right now would have ruined Jake's good mood. And why not be happy? After all, the young man had already been paid upfront for the job of taking the city, and now this beautiful girl had just come out of nowhere, offering him the score of a lifetime. The price he had demanded for his blood was actually a test to see how serious her story really was, and if she had laughed in his face, he would have known that it was bullshit.

On the other hand, if the blonde had agreed to it right on the spot, Jake would have known that she was lying, because no one had the kind of authority, at least no one who did field work. Telling him that she had to run it past her superiors was the best answer that she could have given him, and even though the young man didn't expect to actually get that much… my God, if her people went for it, then… then he could retire. Yeah, move to some resort island somewhere, or hell, just buy the whole thing… and he doubted that this mystery girl was that rich, so maybe he could convince her to go with him… she'd probably look real cute lying on the beach in a bikini… whoever she was.

"So, who do you work for, anyway?" Jake asked as they moved toward the other side of town. "World Health Organization? Doctors Without Borders? TerraSave? And you're gonna have to tell me your name eventually, too… or else I'm just gonna make one up. Would you rather be Sasha or Monika?"

"Sherry… Sherry Birkin." The blonde replied with the slightest smile. "And I work for the United States Government."

There was some hesitation in her voice before telling him that last bit, but the young man wasn't too surprised. I mean, who else than some kind of American super spy would be in a place like Edonia, looking for a single person while pretending to be one of the mayor's secretaries? Sherry had done a good job, though, since during the attack on city hall, everyone had believed her to be just that… and her being a spy also explained why the blonde was able to shoot that J'avo or whatever his infected comrades were called, without flinching.

Jake didn't like the idea of working for the Americans, hell, no one in the part of the world where he grew up did, but… he supposed that a pretty face and the prospect of fifty million dollars was worth a little discomfort… even if he only got half the asking price for his blood. In almost any other scenario, if he or any of his comrades had discovered an American official of any level, it would have been tempting to kidnap them and ransom them back to their government, but… could he get fifty million for her by herself? Probably not, and the BSAA wasn't playing around today.

"Once we get out of the city, the extraction point is pretty far away." The blonde explained as they approached a large building. "We'll need to hitch a ride, or something, unless you happen to have a truck waiting around."

"Sorry, no such luck." The young man replied, taking a moment to look down the streets before they crossed. "I rode in on that tank the BSAA blew up, so we're gonna be on foot for a while."

Even though the battle was pretty far away from them now, it wasn't a good idea to just walk down the middle of the streets in case any of the soldiers or infected mercenaries were still around, so Jake suggested that they pass through the large concrete building up ahead. It looked like an old factory or something, with its outer walls just as damaged as the rest of the city, but with its metal front doors left partly open. Now, that could have happened from one of the blasts, or there could be hostiles inside… they were both armed; Sherry carrying his pistol while the young man had picked up a rifle from a dead J'avo, but that didn't mean they needed to just charge in.

Motioning for her to stay back once they reached the heavily rusted double doors, Jake tried to stay in the building's shadow while peeking inside. Granted, this didn't help much since it was around noon, but the interior of the factory was surprisingly well illuminated for a place that only had a single row of sectioned windows along the top. It was an open floor plan, pretty much a single gigantic room filled with obsolete, rusted old assembly machines and conveyer belts, while the ceiling was held up by a series of concrete support pillars… that is, if there had been a ceiling to hold up.

Maybe from the recent battles, or just from age and neglect, more than a third of the roof had collapsed, with large pieces of metal and concrete lying on the floor and across several of the machines. Like with any large factory, there were probably smaller hidden places like offices and restrooms, but so far the young man didn't see anyone moving around, and if someone had seen him they probably would have started shooting.

"All right, looks clear for now." Jake said quietly. "Come on, there's probably another door on the other side."

Both of them had a slender enough frame to get inside the factory without having to push open the door any farther, which was a good thing since the hinges were so rusted that the whole city probably would have heard them squeaking. Somehow it felt even colder inside the factory than outside, probably because the wind was coming in faster through all the little holes in the wall. They both shivered from the drop in temperature, with breath easily visible each time one of them exhaled, and now their footsteps were echoing loudly, making this place seem even more unsettling, but so far nothing attacked them.

There were no ambushes waiting from inside the old bathrooms that they walked past, nor any random BSAA soldiers from up the stairs on what was left of the building's second level, so it looked like they were in the clear. Beyond the factory's back door, there were only a couple of blocks left until the edge of town, and from there it was unlikely that there would be any BSAA or J'avo in the way. After passing by another empty set of small offices, the back door was in sight, looking just as rusted and unused as the front doors… until light from outside poured in when the doors opened with a loud screeeeeech.

Stopping in their tracks in reaction to the sudden movement, Jake took cover behind a nearby support pillar, while Sherry ducked behind the doorway of an empty office, waiting to be able to clearly see their visitor as soon as they were inside the building. It was one of the infected mercenaries, making the young man sigh with relief since it wasn't the BSAA, and he was getting ready to jump out and shoot the J'avo… only to stop when he realized that this one was not alone. Another infected man came through the doorway a second later, followed by another, and another, and another.

Yeah, there were way too many of them for a stand up fight, but the back door was far enough away from the hiding places that maybe the two of them could fall back, so the young man motioned for her to follow him as he backed away from the pillar. She stayed low while creeping back out of the office doorway, and the infected mercenaries didn't seem to notice her while they searched around the rear entrance. Okay, so the new plan was for them to go back out the front door, and forget all about the factory… however, as they made their way back the way they came, the front door screeched open as well, leaving them nowhere to run as even more of the infected mercenaries came in.

"Shit." Sherry whispered, looking around at the approaching hostiles from both sides. "Hide."

Hide? Jake thought as the blonde tried to take cover behind the crumbling staircase. Hide where? Even if he got behind another support pillar, there were J'avo coming in from both sides, meaning that no matter which direction the young man tried to conceal himself in, one of the two groups was going to see him. So what were they supposed to do? Running for it and standing their ground sounded equally stupid since there were a dozen of his infected former comrades moving into the main room, but instead of shooting as soon as the targets were spotted, the J'avo chose to close in and surround the two of them instead.

"Uh… hi." Sherry said nervously, putting up her hands and moving back toward the very center of the room. "What do we do now?"

"Hey, you're the super spy, you tell me." Jake replied while being herded into the same place. "Hej momci, zar ne mozemo da razgovaramo o ovome?"

The J'avo didn't react to his words, just growling and snarling as they continued to close in for… whatever they were planning to do. However, this plan was never going to be revealed, since it was interrupted by the appearance of a shadow above them… a shadow being produced by something as it dropped down from the roof of the factory… something big enough to make the whole place shake when it landed, cracking the concrete floor and then kicking up a cloud of dust while the shadow stood up to its full height of… just about eight feet tall?

"What the hell is that?" The young man found himself asking aloud.

Kakka-kakka-kakka! Whatever the big thing was, the infected mercenaries didn't seem to like it, taking aim and opening fire on the shadow that was still mostly obscured by the smoke that had been kicked up. For a moment it just stood there, grunting as their bullets slammed into its massive body, but then it moved, and three of the J'avo just disappeared from sight after a swing of its mighty arm. The others continued to attack, but then there was the sound of whirling machinery as two more of them screamed; their infected blood splattering on the floor and support pillar while the figure tore through them like paper targets… until the gunfire and screams stopped… and the figure was just standing there while the smoke slowly cleared.

"Jake… we need to go." Sherry whispered, grabbing onto his wrist. "Jake, come on."

But the young man wasn't moving, he was just standing there staring at the shadowy figure that was standing over the mangled bodies of his former comrades. He had never seen something that could tear an armed unit apart like that, not even the Hunter variety that had attacked Terragrigia, and this fear deepened as the smoke finished clearing, and Jake finally got a good look at the figure when it started walking toward them.