LuckyNumber1: You're in luck then lol no more Carlos POV's from here on out. Narrowing the narrative down to the protagonist and deurotagonist. Carlos serves a vital function in the story and the character developments, but the story is really Jill and HUNK's in the end. Didn't want to slip into his head for bitterness and whinging either. But Carlos understands priorities, given the apocalypse/nuke/monsters situation, that's why he's sticking around them despite the revelations, but it doesn't mean he's doing so happily at the moment. Just needs some time to figure his own bitter feelings and whatnot out, doesn't mean I need to depict that inner turmoil from behind his eyes. He now really knows the good and evil HUNK is capable, like Jill, but hasn't had the same time to really digest it like she has, didn't know about the G-Virus, if he had he would have adapted by now. It was something of a shock to him in that he should have seen it coming but didn't, had forgotten somewhat what HUNK was, after seeing all the good he was doing. There are consequences to secrets and lies. But you'll see how things go in time ;).
Nightroad816: Man's been through a lot, they all have, and have more of it to slog through together. You shall see.
evolution-500: Consequences for everything ;), but time will tell... much appreciated as ever.
Guest/Alex: You've hit the nail on the head for Nikolai and my intent for him, as the human villain of the story. He's a corrupter and divider with a cruel imagination. He has HUNK showing shades of reverting back to the fully Umbrella loyal pre meeting Jill HUNK, devastated Carlos with the G-Virus revelation and Jill with the 'you're a walking biological commodity' revelation and rubbing the Nemesis in her face and physically harming her. All while enjoying himself a great deal and exploiting what he can out of the situation. He's very much a wildcard villain, and contrasts well with HUNK that way. Just a matter of if the group can come back together and succeed in their last escape ;). Seen the casting, and am not impressed in the least. Very low effort production from the look of it anyways. But I have no faith in Hollywood or Netflix to get anything right. Glad you're enjoying the story, and hope you continue to.
The canon data on HUNK as it stands is that he trained on Rockfort Island in 1996. For my story he'd already had other training outside the island and training on Rockfort Island before that date, but the 1996 training was his training against the early Tyrants, so the Umbrella scientists could get data and feedback on how to improve them, along with other B.O.W.'s. The other canon info is that he survived the collapse of Umbrella and ended up as a mercenary at some point, teaching others fighting styles he'd created for battling infected and B.O.W.'s, his fighting style of C.Q.B.Z. In my story him and War developed that fighting style together in their training together and missions, while HUNK the mercenary is something that won't factor into this story of course, Umbrella still being around.
As for the canon HUNK on Rockfort Island thing, yes, during Code Veronica months after Raccoon City he is working for Alfred Ashford, and clearly doesn't like him very much. The way he runs Rockfort Island. If I write a sequel it will be set during then. He already knows Alfred in this story, and has for quite awhile, and isn't fond of him, while Alfred is of him. More HUNK backstory to come in due time.
Rock992: Much appreciated as ever, I like playing with the differences and similarities of the characters, getting them as accurate as possible while expanding as well. Nikolai presents an interesting villain dynamic, being in a position to know HUNK and where he comes from, as well as taking advantage of the situations and all the intelligence he has gathered. And yes, HUNK is usually quiet and observing, as an introvert, though will talk more depending on the situation of course, and if he is with people he trusts. Why I like playing with how he appears on the outside to others, and how he is on the inside. Thanks again.
Jinero: Probably finish the short interquel I'm writing set during the events of this story, concerning two other Resident Evil characters, other survivors who will later cameo in this story. Considering plans for a sequel as well, but make no promises, don't want to disappoint anyone if it doesn't pan out. I won't be writing anymore stories as long as this one I believe, having developed my writing style to be more concise when necessary. Also have another non Resident Evil story or two in progress I'm whittling away at. Hopefully get them done at some point. Not sure which chapter I mentioned Lisa Trevor on... think it was Jill's flashback when she was waking up after being cured from the T-Virus. Lisa and her family will be mentioned later on as well.
Jill was sickened to find out about Lisa, and would indeed put her out of her misery, regrets not being able to do so, and hopes she died at the mansion, which thankfully she did. Carlos would be even more disgusted, and would agree on putting her out of her misery. HUNK meanwhile knows about Lisa Trevor and her family, has for awhile, but it wasn't up to him about what was to be done with her. Nor was he stationed at the Arklay Spencer Mansion, he visited the mansion only once in his life, just as this is his first and last time in Raccoon City. He knows about Lisa and various test subjects of Umbrella's, knows of worse things even than Lisa, and there is something personal about it to him. If it were his choice, he would have put her out of her misery, instead of suffering at the hands of the scientists he is coming to despise.
Magd305TLC: Muchas gracias.
Akira-Hayama: The thing with Nikolai as a villain to me was, a human villain is more complicated to write than a monster one, so I wanted to do him justice especially. And I had to figure out what would stop HUNK from just gunning him down on the spot xD. Thankfully him going around Raccoon City blowing shit up canonically gave me a good in, with Nikolai strapping explosives to himself and holding all of them hostage for the scene to realistically play out as it did. HUNK isn't about to risk setting those bombs off, with Jill and Carlos's lives at stake, on the chance he wasn't bluffing. If it was just himself, things would have played out differently most likely. Nikolai knew that, and exploits dynamics and situations for his own gain. Uses cunning to set up the scenarios in his favor. And is definitely a corrupter/divider. Trying to tempt HUNK to going back to how he was before meeting Jill, devastating Carlos with the G-Virus revelation/lie HUNK and Jill were keeping from him, and revealing Valentine as a contaminated walking bioweapons specimen, playing on her infection fears and rubbing the Nemesis in her face and beating her down mentally and physically. Though I think in both Carlos and Jill's case, it's aimed at pissing off HUNK, he doesn't really care about the latter two personally. Of course a certain worm had to interfere with his plans, for better and for worse ;), and change them partially. Two wild cards in action. HUNK being in Raccoon City for RE 3 changed everything, basically, the dynamics of the characters and story structure. Nikolai would not be acting the way he is if it were just Jill and Carlos, as it was in the canon, he would be his more cold, distant self as he was in the original. There's nothing personal for him there, as there is with HUNK. I loved playing off that, and there's more to come, the introverted Lawful Evil Anti Villain vs the extroverted Chaotic Evil Villain. Them in a nutshell. I was inspired by both his cold portrayal in the original and in Outbreak, as well as his more outright sadistic self in Operation Raccoon City and the remake, and wanted to show the transformation, unmasking himself really, between the two tones/versions of him. HUNK's presence is the catalyst of that unmasking. Him being around changes the story.
I also did the less is more approach to scenes, as I've mentioned for battling monsters, and applied it to the story and character interactions. Nikolai and the Nemesis cross their paths limited times compared to the games, but when they do things change, there are consequences. Being as it's a story I figured that worked best, instead of a bunch of random encounters that don't progress anything, which is better done in games. That means a great deal, turning it into something more, with more weight and meaning was definitely my goal, and to use all the characters to their best effect in the story. Making things uncomfortable when they all meet up. It's an eternal tone juggle for me, when it's time to be serious and when to add humor lol, and mesh the two together where it fits. Because there is an absurdity to Resident Evil, can't all be bleak, depressing horror.
You needn't worry too much about a cliffhanger involving a certain worm ;) I think she might be just around the corner.
Looked into it and have to say not at all interested in the new reboot, more politically correct based bullshit casting and needless race changes to score virtue signalling woke points. They don't care about faithfulness, can only imagine how badly they'll mangle the story, despite the claims of 'returning to the roots'. To be expected of Netflix and Hollywood and their political agendas. Leon's actor doesn't look at all like he should, obviously, and Jill was already of French-Japanese descent, but that still wasn't good enough for the inept casting people. Getting strong 'direct to DVD' vibes from the entire thing anyways. Seems very low grade effort, as usual, for something that should be as big as Resident Evil. And they seem to be jamming 1 and 2 together into one thing instead of doing the mansion only and letting it develop into a sequel, one story at a time. Fingers crossed HUNK doesn't show up to be ruined too, which he probably won't. Between this and the Wesker's Daughters Show, Alice is starting to look better and better, isn't she? Lol. Silver lining. Alas, the Resident Evil brand continues to suffer its decline.
Arkham Knight: Much appreciated, Nikolai was a great villain to have and work with in this setting, explore and figure out, along with his dynamic with the characters. A human villain, in a city of monster villains. A such in ways more dangerous, more intelligent, cunning and creative, sadistic. And a good concurrent, parallel villain to the Nemesis to be plaguing our heroes. More of him to come, an increasingly unpleasant at that. I've enjoyed exploring the villains of Resident Evil, especially the human ones at Umbrella.
117: That is a scene I would have loved to be able to write. Jill would almost certainly gun Irons down, to be honest. If she had crossed paths with him with HUNK and found out what he had done to the Mayor's daughter, how batshit he was. On top of being a corrupt bastard for Umbrella, which she already knew... and she'd kill him without a doubt finding out his involvement in the twisted Raccoon (Umbrella) Orphanage, and the orphans used there as test subjects for NEST while Irons got a lovable, fatherly public image helping sponsor it. She'd either have found that out in her investigation of him, or HUNK would reveal it then and there on the spot to nudge her towards executing Irons, since he knows all about Irons' NEST related activities. And after gunning Irons down she'd receive a silent nod of approval from HUNK, ala Judge Dredd approving of Judge Anderson, whether that's a good approval to have or not. I can imagine her smoking Samurai Edge, her slowly looking to him, receiving the nod, then her stepping out of the office past him and back out into the hall... HUNK watching her go, then looking back to the bullet ridden Irons and his victim, then following her out. As for why HUNK, also in with Umbrella, would nudge her towards killing someone like Irons will be understood later, though there is more than one reason. And I have hinted at reasons already. Had Bard been alive while HUNK and Carlos were procuring the vaccine for Jill, HUNK probably would have left him at that hospital for dead, tie him to that chair himself, unless U.S.S. Command specifically commanded otherwise. Seeing all Bard's sick experiments, I've little doubt Carlos would raise much objection himself, just as he'd be fine with Irons execution. If they didn't simply leave Bard for dead, HUNK would have thrown him to his experiments, not sure which he'd do, but either way Bard receives poetic justice and wasn't leaving Raccoon City short of a direct order from HUNK's superiors, which would be unlikely. Jill is just and moral, a weathered optimist, but she's a human being as well, with a threshold. Not a saint. How she reacts depends upon the case in front of her and the circumstances. Carlos is also a good guy, with faith, but a former criminal as well, even if one trying to do good. All three survivors have their darkness and are either former or current criminals, to different degrees.
The darkly funny irony (pun intended) is that in the first chapter they meet, her and HUNK passed by Irons office on the way up to the roof to jump over to the apartment building. If they'd stopped to check inside they would have found him and poor Katherine on his desk, and the scene would have happened, especially with Jill already being pissed off towards HUNK over the Sherry thing. But alas, canon had to play out properly, the Resident Evil 2 storyline, separate of the Resident Evil 3 one. Just as I was tempted to have Sherry tag along with HUNK and Jill... but I didn't want to mangle/sabotage the canon for RE 2 that badly. Irons gets what's coming to him, at least. A human monster slain by an inhuman one.
Vong: HUNK is pretty content with Matilda, is usually more of a machine pistol man... but you'll see ;).
bakaultima: If you liked the Grave Digger reference, I hope that what is to come is right up your alley. Good question ;) you're right, you'll just have to stay tuned to find the answer, in due time. It ain't over until it's over.
Thank you all for the reviews, they are appreciated as ever. And here we go, something I think a number of you have been waiting for:
October 1st, 1998, 2:32 AM
Cemetery, Raccoon Park, Northern Raccoon City
"HUNK! Wake up! HUNK! HUNK!"
As she shouted, the loud rumbling and movements around them died off into the night, then, as quickly as they had come. With the noises of the rain storm pattering the soil around them and the park forest beyond returning. She listened to him closely, leaning in... his breathing was a bit hurried, labored, but stable. Thank God he'd been wearing his mask and helmet... he'd probably struck his head on something on the way tumbling down the hill together. By sheer luck, she hadn't herself. Her first bit of decent luck in the middle of an awful situation she wanted out of. Most of her had landed on him before the ground, probably breaking the worst of the fall. But, she realized, most likely had done no favors for him. She murmured warm, reassuring words to him, trying to rouse him from his stunned state... bring him back. Her fingers stroked his mask slowly, her lips tightened with deepening apprehension at his lack of response as moments passed. Then, quite suddenly, his own gloved hand came up, encircling her wrist gently, but squeezing her with reassurance. She drew in a low, deep breath of relief, feeling it rushing through her, as his voice, a bit quieter than it had been, seeped from the mask's primary nozzle.
"I'm ok... Valentine. Just need a... moment. Don't think... anything's broken. That I know of..."
"You scared the hell out me! Again! Cut that out already, damn you!"
"Almost being buried alive? Wasn't exactly my idea..."
"Don't give me that... you know what I mean. I'll be old before my time, at this rate. Stop getting yourself hurt and making me worry about you. "
"Ladies first, as they say..."
HUNK's low, dry tone replied simply, brushing a finger along her bandaged nose gently, and then upon her bandaged shoulder. He pointed to the blood staining her collar and tube top, and then touched her bandaged leg, making his point and then some. While the rain helped clean most of the blood stains on her skin, along with the dirt and mud, her top was not so fortunate. Jill scowled at him as he silently rubbed it in her face... but there was no real force behind it. Her bruised face broke immediately into a smile and a tired laughter against herself. Unable to help herself and not wanting to. The laughs were so few and far between, now... it felt like she was forgetting how... but somehow he knew how to draw them in the unlikeliest of places. To remind her how. Warming her within when she felt nothing but coldness, despair, even in the middle of this insanity. It was absurd, but all the same, she laughed. She couldn't see it, but liked to believe he wore a smile on that strong, stubble lined jaw. She shook her head slowly as she recovered herself, laughter subsiding, swallowing and clearing her throat.
"Hmm. Already knew you were a badass. Figured you for a smartass too. You don't disappoint in either case."
"Beats a dumbass."
Her bruised features smiled deeper at that in the reflections of his lenses, and she swatted his shoulder playfully, ignoring the stinging it caused her hand. He merely tilted his head slightly, looking past her shoulder. Low, muffled voice emerging again speculatively.
"Where is Oliveira?"
As quickly as he'd risen the smile, it instantly evaporated at his words. How the hell did he do that too? And how had she possibly forgotten? He had taken her that far away from it all with ease, from the pain. Her emotions fluctuating around him all the time. And he did it, she was certain, without ever meaning to. Gave her butterflies, like some silly schoolgirl again. Jill looked further down the newly opened path, towards Carlos's last known position. She couldn't see him, from where they lay amid the rubble. She had hoped to see his big form, his backpack and weapons, safely prone close by. But it was not to be. There was a bend, beyond it, leading down another path out of sight... and she hoped he was down it, not buried as they nearly were. And looking back at HUNK wordlessly, he understood her worried gaze at once, nodding his head slowly and gripping her wrist with reassurance.
"We'll find him. Make sure he survives this. Help me up. I'm no good down here."
"Shh... none of that talk. It's going to be ok, just take it slowly."
"I just... need to move. We can't stay here... it will be back."
"I know... but we need to take things carefully..."
Jill climbed steadily off of the agent, dog tags on her necklace jangling around her neck, tucking away her sidearms, readjusting her Mine Thrower and Rebecca's medical bag, then grasping his powerful arm. Exerting her strength on the large man, she helped pull him upward into a sitting position. He uttered a deep, muffled breath of pain as he did so, and she stopped at once, waiting with him for him to catch his breath. All the while Jill looked on in concern, hoping nothing inside him had been injured. She was prepared to work on him, as he had her more than once by now... whether he liked it or not. At last, he nodded, making to rise again, and she wrapped her other arm around him, helping him stand back up on his feet. The dirt and dust rained off his vest and bodysuit, heavily dirtying each, mud stains at various spots. By contrast the scarred, scratched and dented metal of his black helmet glinted clean beneath the rain, as well as his mask and red lenses. He rose, growing rigid and firm on the spot, his modified submachine gun lowered down in one hand, while the other was wrapped about her waist. They stood like that together in the rain for a time, the storm cleaning away the dirt and mud that had clung to his dark grey bodysuit... the wetness rendering it sleek again, and almost black, illuminated in the lights around the graveyard.
At last, Jill took the moment to look around, gripping his waist tighter in the shock of what they found. They stood at the base of a newly formed embankment behind them, perhaps about twelve or more feet high above... and it wasn't just the path they stood on. An entire deep ring had been dug around the center of the graveyard. In the process, all the digging had caused the entire graveyard to collapse and sink down into the tunnels formed below. Although the middle of the graveyard stood higher with the sheer concentration of debris... forming an island of sorts, along with the moat they stood in. The graves that had been closest to the newly dug path had been mostly destroyed, and the cast iron light posts closest to the edge of the dug path were loose, crooked and bent. A few of them looked close to falling over and were blinking on and off... but nevertheless they remained connected to the park's main generator, and the majority of the graveyard was bathed in light. It wasn't just the rock of broken tomb stones scattered about the path, but ones drawn from the earth, broken apart under the force that had met them. It was like one big sink hole... the graveyard collapsing in on itself. It was a disaster zone, plain and simple. She looked up, high above, back to the cabin they had just left... it remained standing, but all the earth in front of it had collapsed into the sink hole, leaving the edge of it hanging precariously. Past the muddy embankment behind them, above the main cast iron fencing around the entirety of the cemetery remained intact as well, if crooked at certain sections.
The trees beyond the main fencing and gates remained where they were, all the more mighty and taller in their present position down in the earth. Jill ran a gloved hand through her damp hair, brushing it to the side as she surveyed the devastation. They hadn't been buried alive... but they had been dropped into a hole that would take some getting out of. Her thoughts were scattered and wild, with apprehension and confusion over what the hell had just hit them... but she needn't have wondered long, it made itself clear quick enough. The rumbling came back... the earth shook... and Jill nearly pushed HUNK back down to take cover. Yet it was different this time, which gave her pause... it was all concentrated in one location... the center of the graveyard. No... it hadn't been a high magnitude earthquake, Jill knew. Had known in the back of her mind even as it had all happened. But she sure as hell wished it had been. She'd thought it had been one the first time she felt the tremors, outside of Central Street Station. How fortunate it would have been for them... for all of them, if that had been the case. Jill pressed against HUNK, gripping his shoulder tightly to brace herself. The large broken tombs lying riddled around the dirt began to break apart into smaller pieces as they shook... and before Jill fully realized what was happening, its massive, writhing bulk burst forth from the earth and rose high above the surface and into the air above the crater.
The earth rained all over the cemetery from its form, joining with the water and splashing mud all over from the sky. Its dark brown rigid flesh, was illuminated in the lights as it squirmed blindly in the midst of the graveyard. It effortlessly dominated the night's sky, loomed over the graveyard, rising higher even than the gates and the trees... and even then, Jill was certain only half of it at the very most was above the earth, the rest of it mercifully buried away beneath. It was a thing of unimaginable size... as it had been the last time they had encountered it... had fought it. Only now she believed it had grown exponentially in the past days, in bulk and length. Its twin rows of mutated legs were visible as they hadn't been in the sewers, thick powerful stubs running along the underside of its body. Its thick form was coated in numerous assorted scars, including burns, healed over by time. Scores of healed bullet wounds they had rained down on it from above the sewer as it had screamed and tried to reach them. It remained where it was for a time, squirming back and forth in the air... seemingly a headless thing... until the top of it moved down slightly in their direction. Then, its head retracted, revealing the nightmare she had not forgotten... four tendril-like mandibles, parting like a flower and and revealing a colossal maw within. For all the teeth they had shot out together, they had grown back and then some, the mouth its self far larger than before, the jagged rows gnashing together. The maw that had tried to devour her down in the sewers... or worse, do to her what it had to the survivors it had amassed in its hive. Saliva, or something far worse ran in a stream from its mouth... and when it made contact with soil and rock below, it did so with a hiss... acid melting away and scorching the matter it touched.
"Oh my God..."
Then, a far louder hissing scream erupted from the mountain's maw... a shriek of blind rage, that carried across several districts of Raccoon City... reaching northern sections of the Quarantine Zone, drowning out the rain, the moans of the dead, even its own rumbling in the earth. It pierced into her ears, her skull, causing her to grunt in pain, forcing her to clamp a hand over her left ear, and press her head against HUNK's shoulder to drown it out. She could hear her heart throbbing loudly, over her headache... but she could still hear it, drowning out even the ringing. Then, the scream stopped... and a moment later it looked down towards them again as she rose back up and retracted her hand from her ringing eardrum. She knew, as she had before that the mother was intelligent, in its own way... it recognized them... remembered them. That's what its scream had been for. To remind them of what it knew. The pair that had destroyed its hive, killed a number of its children, badly injured and burned it Uptown. Had driven it away. The pair that had perhaps nearly killed it in their first fight. It had survived, and come back for them, inexorably... as all the worst things seemed to. Jill felt HUNK's gaze and the grip of his hand on hers, and she slowly turned her eyes to his lenses. She understood him... and he understood her. The magnitude of this. Their unfinished business. They hadn't killed it last time... and it had come back stronger than ever. The story of their lives since they had met. She smiled at him tiredly, but a smile none the less. Maybe he smiled back. She didn't know... but again she wished she knew what it looked like.
Their night wasn't over... not by a long shot.
They would still be escaping... but it would be one step at a time, like everything else. Her racing heart, the fear in it, began to balance out, replaced by her understanding... and she slowly nodded. She was afraid of it... surely he saw that in her eyes, as she had been of Nikolai covered with explosives... and their Pursuer... but the soldier in her, and the police officer, were not. They were cold and rigid, and angry. Purposeful... and ready for anything. Even this. One more horror on the road to her... their, last escape. Their joined fingers and hands retracted from one another, as HUNK rose the submachine gun to his shoulder, shining the laser sight on its mouth. Jill slid the Samurai Edge and Matilda from their holsters carefully, both arms raising and joining the weapons alongside his. The worm shrieked again, and began to lunge downwards towards them, its thick body rushing their position in the path. Before they could open fire on it or dodge out of the way of its maw, as it descended upon them, there was another scream... though not from the thing's mouth, or her own. It screamed through the air through the rain towards the colossal worm mother and struck it dead on in the throat... or what could be considered one.
There was a great explosion, spraying fire everywhere and impacting with such force the monstrous worm's head and body jerked back under the blow, moving backwards away from Jill and HUNK's position on the path. It reacted as though something its size had punched it. Jill watched its sudden reaction, shock filling her veins, no less shocked than the thing seemed to be. The fire licking up its body was reflected in her eyes, and HUNK's lenses. The round had left behind a small, scorched hole in the side of the worm's neck. The fire showed no sign of going out, even in the midst of the pouring rain. The thickened, tough flesh there pealing back and burnt from the damage the explosion had caused. It moved back and forth in the air, hissing, spraying out more of the acidic fluid in its many rows of of razor teeth, smoke rising from the stone it touched. The attack had been so sudden and unexpected, as it had prepared to attack them, that it was clear of creature needed time to ready itself.
"Yeah bitch!" An unmistakable accented voice shouted into the night somewhere ahead of their position. The shout echoed over the rain, its hissing and even the rumbling its colossal bulk created. Jill's heart raced as her eyes shot over in the direction of the voice, unable to see exactly where its owner was amid the debris. "You want some more?! I got plenty here with your name on em'!"
"Carlos!"
The mother worm stopped in the wake of the explosion... and its body twisted, turned in the direction the shot had come from. Seeing who had produced it, as they couldn't. Despite the power of the grenade shell, it was mostly unaffected by the blast... and if anything, it had only made it angrier. And made it refocus this rage on another. Evidently... it did want some more. Yet... the still flaming monster didn't lunge at him, as it had been ready to at them, rather it plunged its head down into the earth and began to do as it did best... it began to dig among the graves, down deeper into the soil. Carlos, from his position, fired another grenade shot at the thing's bulk... but its great body disappeared under the earth amid the rumbling of its tunneling. He swore loudly as the second shrieking shot went wild, and slammed into the side of the cabin over their heads, causing Jill to duck and raise her arm over her eyes as a shield. The force of the explosion detonated, blowing down an entire section of wall and bursting windows, fire spreading once more all over it.
Jill looked back over her shoulder wildly as the fire continued to spread and light the place up, a burning monument on the embankment, its own glow helping to illuminate the battlefield. Napalm rounds... those had to be what he was using. Hard to come by and hard to make... but then he was the heavy weapons guy for his old squad, she remembered, and he did like to scavenge. About time he got to put it all to good use. A smile touched her lips again, and grabbing HUNK's arm, she pulled him away from the mound of dirt and rocks they stood on. The two broke into a run down the path and towards the bend, moving to regroup with Carlos at his position. They needed to stay together, as they always had... it had gotten them this far, and if there would be any hope of fighting back against the tunneling mother worm, it would only be from a united group. Jill scrambled over the assorted piles of rock and debris in their way, and to the corner of the path, passing around it and one of the light posts.
The moment they did so, the subsequent path beyond came into view... and specifically, Carlos, Standing in a large, deep puddle of murky water situated between several of the light posts. He had slung his modified assault rifle over his shoulder, and had his M79 Grenade Launcher out and ready in one hand, popped open as he inserted a fresh grenade shell from his belt into it. Closing it back up, amidst the rumbling of the earth around them, he looked up, recognizing them in the distance, visible relief touching his eyes as he waved them over to him. Jill and HUNK broke into a run again, hurrying as quickly as they could... but before they could reach his position, the rumbling grew all the more powerful. Earth separated in the space between their positions, and the rigid bulk of the mother worm burst forth from the ground all over again. The fire that had been passing over its burnt flesh had been put out by its tunneling, dirt caking its great surface. Its vast maw parted once more, colossal rows of teeth snapping amidst another shriek, and ahead of them, out of Jill's sight beyond the worm, Carlos swore again. There was another explosion as he shot the thing dead on, causing it to jerk backwards again towards HUNK and Jill, fresh fire rolling across its body. By now, however, it seemed to have adapted to responding to such explosives... it lunged forward, snapping in Carlos's direction... and now she could see Carlos, breaking into a panicked backwards run further down the path, keeping out of its great reach. Struggling to reload under the stress and close proximity of death.
Jill's sidearms, and HUNK's modified submachine gun, rose again in unison and began to spray respective hails of gunfire at the worm's back and mutated appendages along its sides. Jill didn't hold her ground, she kept moving forward, the high powered round punching deep into its back and opening up wounds, trickles of fresh, putrid green fluid leaking from every hole. It was resilient, could take a great deal of pain... even explosives... some of the shots glanced off the surface of its rigid flesh, even while others struck it dead on. It was toughened... it could handle the shots they were throwing at it... but even as the dread swelled in her chest, she focused on the one confirmed fact. It could bleed. They could hurt it. Even after the days that had passed, in which it had recovered, grown and grown stronger. It was big, one attack from it hit them and they were finished... but its bulk and sized worked just as much against it. It wasn't agile or quick on the surface, as it was tunneling. And it was funneled in by the pathway and embankments around the sunken pit of the cemetery. They could use its size against it, as much as it could against them.
Those facts kept her going, her eyes narrowed on it as she blasted it. HUNK's armor piercing fully automatic incendiary rounds proved more effective, adding to the fire sweeping its form. Punching into it, green blood pouring freely. The red laser sight focused on one spot on its side, the burnt flesh where the grenade earlier had struck, focusing on opening the flesh in one increasingly big hole. The flesh had been cauterized by the intense heat of the napalm and subsequent burial in the dirt, but his hail of silenced, echoing rounds fixed that. He went through the magazine, popped it out and jammed in a fresh one expertly in a matter of seconds, opening fire again. Every bit the professional machine as his equipment. It uttered another scream high into the night as it slid after Carlos, pausing again, confused and enraged by the newcomers, looping its head back and looking at them. Jill tucked away her Samurai Edge, raised Matilda in both hands for stability and switched her to fully automatic, spraying an entire thirty round magazine of armor piercing rounds into its face. The modified pistol kicked in her hands and roared into the night, shells flying around her, the roar overtaking even the worm's hissing and screams... and it emptied in nearly an instant, shocking Jill even amidst the chaos and rumbling of the earth under her feet. She glanced down at the smoking barrel of the pistol, and back to the watchful HUNK, quite impressed with his chosen sidearm.
Unfortunately, the worm had closed up its maw and mandibles before she could try to break its teeth, but the staccato of rounds impacted all over its flesh, opening up fresh wounds. She slid a spare extended magazine into Matilda, and rose her again with her Samurai Edge, going back to twin alternating single shots from each. As exhilarating as fully automatic mode was for the high caliber modified Cold War machine pistol, it would burn through all her spare magazines if she wasn't careful. She needed to make everything she had count. As good as it had felt. It had given her another surge of adrenaline, sharpening her senses to alertness, feeling that power in her hand. Beyond the worm, as she and HUNK fired upon it in a concentrated manner, she heard the powerful rapports of Carlos's SIG Pro.
Soon the pistol shots were followed by the impact of another grenade shell, this time impacting its front side instead of neck. The deafening explosion of the grenade launcher drove the screeching worm against the side of the embankment heavily, the flames roaring over its burning flesh. Jill and HUNK kept the pressure on, stepping closer and shooting its already damaged sections in unison, fresh blood leaking out more steadily than before. It was back up in almost an instant, recovering itself... Jill couldn't discern who it would attack next, Carlos or them... perhaps it didn't know itself, mandibles parting against, razor sharp fangs enraged. Acid began to flow more profusely from its mouth... and it looped around, facing HUNK and Jill, ignoring Carlos... remembering them.
It had no eyes that she could see... and it still recognized them.
The section of its body still above the ground began to stiffen, growing more rigid, rising up like a cobra prepared to strike. The acid continued to trickle, Carlos tried shouting at it to get its attention, firing his pistol in its back to no avail. Jill stared back at it hard, aiming both pistols at its head and opening up again, taking a step closer... ready to dodge, when need be... when it lunged at them. But it didn't. HUNK stopped firing behind her and ran up to her as the worm's head rose higher, tackling her aside against a pile of rocks and broken tombstone, just as its head snapped back and spat a great globule and stream of acid in their direction. The pair hurtled together out of its path just in time, landing heavily and painfully among the debris. Jill felt a fresh deep cut open on her left arm when it impacted with rock, blood starting to trickle down along it. She ignored it, looking up past HUNK's form and the rain in her eyes to the worm. It had assumed the position to lunge at them... but she knew it would be on them before they could scramble out of its path, the great maw of teeth overtaking them. She rose Matilda past HUNK's head and opened up... at the same time another grenade shell slammed into the worm mother's great body, striking the back of its head. The moment it impacted, the worm surged forward again, the napalm burning away, a great cloud of smoke and foul smell rising from its form. Jill could smell it from where she lay, nose wrinkling.
Raising her bloodied arm over her mouth, she began to cough again, tears stinging. The magazine in each gun emptied, as HUNK brought his submachine gun to bear again from their position. Before she could load them... and before HUNK could get more than a few rounds off, they watched as the hissing worm slammed into the dirt again head first. The earth beneath it parted, and it began to tunnel, giant body descending steadily beneath the ground. Jill quickly worked to reload before it could disappear again, but amid the earthquake she was slowed down, and HUNK's shots beside her veered off course with the laser sight. They lay at ground zero of the quake... she felt it all through her body, passing beneath them, travelling back to the far side of the graveyard all over again. At last, popping out the spent magazines and slapping fresh ones into place, she stood up hurriedly, aiming where it had dug... but the tail of its body vanished below before she could squeeze off a shot. She turned quickly, breathing heavily, and grabbed HUNK by his glove, helping him back up to his feet again, and standing back on the path. Somewhere close, a light flickered over and over, shifting their section of the battlefield between shadow and illumination. And she heard his loud voice, her head snapping his way for a moment before realizing he wasn't talking to her.
"Not now NIGHTHAWK! In the middle of it if the satellite footage didn't tip you off! She can wait! Will update later! Inform the team and U.S.S. Command I require radio silence apart from emergencies! No shit this might be considered an emergency! Over and out!"
The U.S.S. Agent withdrew from the sudden radio call she couldn't hear, with a muffled, irritated sound. Looking ahead further down the path, HUNK and her glimpsed Carlos, standing upright looking back down at them. He had his pistol in one hand, down at his side, and the grenade launcher in the other. He breathed audibly even from where they were, and he began to stride forward towards them, with the two of them doing the same. They regrouped in the middle together. Her heart quickened as they stood together again, a mixture of dread, fear from the worm... and from the last matter that had happened before between them, back in the burning cabin. The three stood in silence for a few moments, amid the rain, which washed the blood down her arm... Carlos looking back between the two of them, eyes narrowed, disheveled features inscrutable. Part of her thought he might bring it up again... the G-Virus... the lie that had divided them. But she was only partly surprised when he broke the silence with the very thing she imagined was on all three of their minds ahead of Golgotha, in that instant.
"Well? How the fuck are we going to kill it?"
It was a good question. To say the least. The only question on all of their minds. Jill traded a look with HUNK, but neither one of them answered him immediately. Jill looked past the two men, deeper beyond in the graveyard, where the worm had gone silent, the rumble and echo of its tunneling ending abruptly. That couldn't have been good. As she looked down in its direction, her eyes moved to something she hadn't spotted earlier, close to the path they stood on. Jill, without a word, stepped past the pair of them... moving closer to check it out. She could feel them watching her go... but within moments, she heard their tones conversing, working out some manner of strategy. Their voices sounded distant to her ears, amid the sound of the rain, and her own altered focus. And her pain. She stopped before the sight that caught her eye. A sizable, deep puddle of water, at the edge of the path, taking up a fair amount of space. The rain droplets splashed along its surface... sending ripples outward. She looked back at her own battered features from above... but it was mercifully hard to make out the details. She could imagine how she looked. She extended her arm, watching the droplets of blood running down along it, dripping into the murky water below. She reached into Rebecca's medical bag and produced a First Aid Spray, gritting her teeth as she sprayed herself, doing her best to ignore the stinging and tucking it back away.
But something else rained into the water from above... dancing bits of light, a shower of sparks every few moments. Every time the light flickered between off and on. Her eyes rose to its source, a long black cast iron light post that had been dislodged at some point by the worm's tunneling. It was damaged, crooked, and bent towards the puddle of murky water, looming over it. Nevertheless, some earth clung to its base, holding it enough in place to keep it somewhat secure. She watched the sparks erupt from it as it shone brightly... and in a moment she stood in a deep shadow... only to be illuminated again beneath it. A plan began to stir, in the back of her mind... as she studied the two ingredients. Ingredients they... she and HUNK, had used before not too long before. Before they had reached a stalemate with their Pursuer in the clock tower courtyard. She remembered the burning of flesh... the napalm rounds had brought that back, and painted the memory more vivid. What they had done to it. This was something they could work with. She was reminded of something else... a classic film, at least slightly comparable to their current situation. Their dilemma. Their arguing voices brought her back to the present.
"We should just get the hell out of here, make a run for it through the woods... back through the sewer. Get the hell out of here. Anywhere but here."
"It will be back, Corporal, and soon... regardless of where we go, it will follow around the park. It is faster than us. Can cut us off from the suspension bridge before we even reach it. We need to keep it contained here on one battlefield. Trap and eliminate it with explosives."
"The grenades are doing jack shit to it, last I checked. It might be hurting the flesh, might have bought us some time, but it sure as shit isn't blasting through it. And it can take our bullets like we're hitting a battleship with sling shots. We'll be out of ammo before we do any real damage here, or dead. How do we take down something that crawled out of a goddamn giant monster movie?"
"Godzilla."
Jill's low voice intoned to herself, remembering all of a sudden. She smiled slightly to herself, recalling watching it on television as a kid with her father. One of her more fond memories of Richard... long before he had gotten himself caught. Apparently she said it audibly enough for the two men to break off from their conversation abruptly. Their heads snapped back to her direction, standing at the edge of the deep puddle. She looked back to them, seeing the bewilderment in Carlos's expression, undoubtedly shared by the masked agent. She gestured with her Samurai Edge and blooded arm to the crooked light post for them, and to the sparks raining from it. Then she looked back their way, over her shoulder.
"I have an idea. We lure the worm back over here, push the light post in the water next to it and we fry it with the electrical current. Just like Godzilla."
"Yeah. I remember that. After Godzilla stepped on a few wind up tanks and some train sets, the Japanese used electricity on him.", Carlos's tone replied in turn reluctantly after a long pause, looking a bit annoyed. He released a tired breath, running a hand through his soaked hair. His eyes looked beyond her, to the sparking light, and then to the land beyond her shoulder. "There's just one problem. Last I checked it only made Godzilla stronger. And angrier."
"It won't this thing. Everything going on here might seem like a movie, but last I checked the laws of nature and elements are still intact. We are not dealing with a giant radioactive lizard here, Carlos. Electricity will burn it like your napalm rounds did. If it doesn't, or the worm gets stronger, I'll eat my boots."
"Sure you want to make that bet? They look a bit tough to swallow."
"Valentine's assessment is correct. Electricity injured the Tyrant. It will harm this mutation."
"And how exactly are we going to lure it back down this way?"
"Simple enough. Bait."
"Great idea. Genius. U.S.S. pays you the big bucks for a reason. So what the hell are we going to use for bait?"
No response was returned from the U.S.S. Agent's mask, merely staring back at the sarcastic Corporal... making his meaning plain enough as moments passed. Carlos froze, eyes returning back to Jill and to HUNK again. For a moment he looked fully prepared to object. But in light of their circumstance, the conditions, he didn't seem to see many alternatives. At last, he released a defeated breath, cursing loudly. Nothing in his expression was remotely pleased. At last, mulling it over, he shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
"Aw fuck it. Only live once. I'm outnumbered anyways. At this point getting eaten is looking like a welcome-..."
Carlos broke off all of a sudden, shock and alertness filling his eyes. Jill looked back at him with confusion, but before she could ask what was wrong, his SIG Pro snapped up at once, and peering down the sights he opened fire in her direction. Instinctively, Jill flinched back, heart racing, her own sidearms raising on instinct. The pistol roared into the night, and the bullets struck the puddle close beside her, which she drew back from at once, whirling around to face it. In the midst of the noisy rain, and her distraction listening to them, a meter long sliding worm has crept up upon her. It had slipped among the mounds of dirt and broken stone and through the puddle with the intent to take her unaware. Now it lay hissing in the water... water steadily filling with the leaking green fluid from the gunshot holes all over it that had struck dead on. Jill, regaining her focus, raised the pistols and shot off its head... in time to spot at least a dozen of its siblings beyond it, sliding down from the center of the graveyard to reach them on the path. They hissed in unison, mandibles parting no differently from their mother, exposing the rows of fangs within. And they weren't alone... other, larger shapes dug their ways out of the dirt and mud, emerging with familiar buzzing and hissing sounds. Mutated shaped... insectoid... multi limbed, some of them with two heads, forked darting tongues and numerous eyes, and coarse, filthy matted hair at parts of their bodies. Jill recognized them at once, the terrible smelling mutations that feasted on brains and spinal fluid... both variants were present. And from the look on Carlos's face, the revulsion and horror, so did he, stowing away his pistol and slinging his grenade launcher rapidly and meeting them with bursts of his rifle instead. Familiar green blood spewed from their mud caked, buzzing forms as they pulled themselves along, charging the survivors madly.
They moved so quickly, and coordinated, that she imagined if not for their sharp focus, the adrenaline surging through her, they might have stood a chance. All the same, the mud and dirt slowed them in a way they wouldn't have been in the concrete surroundings of Downtown and Uptown, where they could crawl on walls and sprint. The wet soil they emerged from worked against them now. In unison, the survivors each raised their weapons and began to shoot each of the mutated fleas to pieces. The silenced staccato of HUNK's armor piercing incendiary rounds ripped through a pair of them instantly, lighting them up, making their buzzing sound more like screams. The red laser sight was tracking each quickly and incinerating and blowing them away. The agent's stance was rigid, modified weapon raised to his shoulder as he moved the red laser sight of death between the many targets, selecting those closest to Jill near the puddle. Carlos's M4A1 and Jill's Samurai Edge and Matilda mopped up the worms in unison, green gore streaming all over the place, pieces of the insectoid mutants and snake-like worms floating in the puddle, still writhing. They worked like a well coordinated and disciplined unit, Jill's eyes narrowed on their prey... and the reinforcements that came after. A small swarm of them, following even in the wake of the dozen dead sliding worms before it. They worked like clockwork, methodically... she felt nothing shooting one after another, only a cold purpose, alternating between killing them and reloading quickly. Try as the sliding worms did to advance forward, none of them made it further than the puddle... and some not even that. Once they took out the more dangerous mutated, double headed fleas... it fairly quickly turned into a turkey shoot.
The only advantage the worms had was being harder to hit... but even then, only the element of surprise really worked for them... and Carlos had blown that for them. Jill blew the head apart of the last one as Carlos and HUNK mopped up the remains of the others. Her icy eyes watched it writhe and bleed to death among the debris... among the other dead and dying, twitching creatures, before she lowered her side arms. Jill's gaze still intently surveyed the area for any other surprises, heart racing. She wouldn't let another one of the bastards sneak up on her as they had. She had been so focused on their mother, that ironically she had almost forgotten about its offspring. What they were capable of, left unchecked. Like the fountain in the plaza, one had used the water to creep up on them... on her. Newly born, most likely, and already with the deadly predator nature of their mother... or close to it, anyways. Were there days remaining for Raccoon City in which its offspring could grow, she didn't want to imagine how quickly they would reach their mother's size. She watched HUNK's red laser sight take up surveying the area... which comforted her enough to at last look away from the battlefield... from their handiwork. Slowly, she released the breath she had been holding, ignoring the stinging pain throbbing in her face, and drawing in the cold air. She smelled the rancid, putrid green fluids flowing from the fleas and worms alike... thankfully they were out in the open, and the wind helped redirect it away from her. Eyes sweeping the area again, she lowered her pistols slowly and turned back to the U.S.S. Agent and Corporal, and spoke up to them again, breathing heavily.
"Is that all of them? I can't see any more out there."
"For now. Stay alert."
"Its damn kids are trying to eat us alive now. And what the fuck are those giant flea things doing all the way out here?"
"Warriors. Drones. Have a symbiotic relationship with the worms, Corporal."
"They're working together, now? Son of a bitch..." Carlos muttered to himself loudly as he popped out a spent magazine, inserting a fresh one. He cocked back the hammer of the pistol and rose it again, scanning the graveyard. "Where the hell are they all coming from?"
"The offspring and guardians makes it clear. It has spun another hive.", HUNK's low, muffled tone informed them, his red lenses looking back to Jill in a knowing manner. She remembered what he had told her, back at the train station, the last time they had fought it off. What he had seen, dealt with down in the sewers. Part of her was glad to have missed out on it... another part wished she had been present with him. Nobody should have to stumble upon a nest of horrors like that alone. Regardless of whether they could handle it. She inclined her head slightly his way, in understanding. "Here, beneath the graveyard. The former park residents bodies would serve as an efficient source. The drones would have set up in the sewers below as well, a dark, warm place for their biomass and pods."
"God... I fucking hope not. This is Aliens, alright. Next you're going to tell us we have to find and destroy all its eggs. We might have our resident Ripley with us, but we don't exactly have a flamethrower and pulse rifle on hand. So no thanks, ain't going down there."
"Not our problem, Oliveira. The thermobaric weapon will handle it come dawn. We only need to remove the primary threat. Their mother."
"Oh, only the Queen, he says. That's all. What the hell do you think I was trying to do with those grenades? Put on a fireworks show?"
"Failing to accomplish what electricity might.", The U.S.S. Agent's low tone replied grimly. He started to move back down the path Jill and him had come from, gesturing the Corporal to follow, looking back as he moved. "This way, Oliveira. We make noise, get it to tunnel after us. Then we lure it back down to-..."
Somewhere, further down the graveyard, it screamed again, high into the night. It came from somewhere beyond the graveyard... it had tunneled away, evidently, into the forests beyond. All three of their heads turned in its direction at once, weapons raising accordingly. The echo of its carrying screams died away slowly, the rage. Burning as intensely as the cabin. From afar, it was replaced by the familiar quakes, reverberating through the earth towards them, and all the commotion it entailed. Sections of the fencing above the embankment between the graveyard and forest finally gave way and collapsed, sliding down the embankment, through the soil. Jill's heart froze in her chest again, as it came back for them, her hands tightening on the pistols. It was one thing to plan out a strategy as she had... it was quite another to implement it against their opponent. Her mind worked quickly against her pain and stress. The fear. It never went away, as hard as she tried to will it out of existence. It was a specter, like the storm clouds above, and colder than the rain.
"I don't think luring it back here is going to be much a problem.", Carlos suggested darkly, slinging the assault rifle again, taking up the separate grenade launcher in one hand and popping it open. His fingers grasped a fresh cylindrical napalm shell from his belt, slid it home and closed the weapon back up. His eyes burned ahead, in the direction of the tunneling, tilting his head slightly. "Our grave digger sounds more than a little pissed about her kids. Let's go reunite them."
"Change of plans. Oliveira, fall back and cover us with the grenade launcher.", HUNK replied slowly, gesturing to each of them, striding forward towards the puddle. The sparks rained down upon him, dancing on his shoulder and glinting in his lenses before fading again. When he reached it, boots touching the concentration of water, he turned back stiffly in their direction, weapon remaining at the ready. He looked right at her, tilting his head in the direction of the light beside him. Her eyes followed his lenses, glowing on and off with each flash overhead. "Valentine, take position next to the light post. I'll get it where it needs to be. On my signal, push it in the water."
"Gladly.", Came Carlos's voice from somewhere already off to the side, his boots moving through the muck. "Don't have to tell me twice."
Only then, she realized HUNK's intent. He was choosing to be the bait himself. Risking not only it crushing him, devouring him, spitting the acid on him... or all of it, but electrocuting himself in the puddle. Taking the brunt of the danger for the other two. Putting himself in the crosshairs. Jill took a step closer to him, alarm and concern seeping into her expression. Instinctively, she spoke up against it without a second thought, shaking her head.
"HUNK... no, this was my plan... I should be the one-..."
"You are in no condition. I know what I'm doing. No arguing this time, Valentine." Came his terse, curt reply, and a cutting gesture of his hand. Another moment passed, his tone growing a shade less cool as he added a few more words, amending himself. Reassuring her. "It's going to be ok, Jill. I promise."
"You damn well better keep it, Secret Agent Man..."
Jill murmured as she watched HUNK remain where he was, standing directly in front of the puddle, looking back at the pair of them. Trying to repress the dread she felt coiling. She would not be changing his mind, in spite of her desire to. No matter what she said. She knew well enough that he was resolved to his course of action... and their options were rapidly dwindling. She finally nodded her assent, ignoring every other impulse. It seemed to be enough to satisfy him. The agent turned away from them abruptly, looking back ahead to the source of the rumbling and raising the submachine gun again, peering down the infrared scope. By contrast, Carlos retreated back down the left side of the path, where he had been before when he had fought it. He knelt down to one knee when he was clear, raising the other, as well as the grenade launcher to his shoulder, peering down the sights, covering both of them. He looked over at and nodded back at Jill curtly. It took her a few seconds to realize what they were doing... they would funnel it into the center, keep it pinned there with gunfire. Then HUNK would lure it into the puddle. Which would be where she came in. Jill's senses shocked back into action, reminding her what she needed to do. She ran off to the side of the deep puddle, past HUNK, climbing up over some of the debris and reaching the sparking light post overlooking the water. Raising her pistols again, breathing deeply, she watched as the tunneling grew closer... moving like a shark through the land, gliding with ease and devastating all it passed under. Jill's eyes tracked it, and the red laser sight tracking it. The puddle shook under HUNK's boots... everything did, including the rattling light post. In spite of that, her fear it would fall over prematurely, it remained in place, requiring a direct push... but she knew it wasn't time.
She felt the rattling in her bones and her teeth, and she clenched her jaw. She watched HUNK remaining as still as a statue, even amid the earthquake, not even flinching as the worm traveled closer towards him. Jill's heart pounded in her ears, the hairs on her arms standing up on end, goosebumps forming all over. In her mind's eye, she saw the frightening image of the worm bursting forth from the earth again... this time beneath his boots, swallowing him whole. Her hands clenched the guns tighter, as she dug her boots into the ground, forcing herself to stay where she was, and drive back the impulse to tackle him away to the ground. Away from the thing. Or to open fire to the ripping dirt before it reached him, to draw its attention, if it was possible. She expected HUNK to pivot, dodge out of the path of the tunneling creature... something, anything. The last thing she expected him to do was what he did, stepping deeper into the puddle, standing in the midst of it. He simply stared back at the rippling ground approaching his position, and did not give it an inch. As, all the while, the mother passed beneath him and moved on to the pathway. Only then did he turn around slowly, weapon still risen in greeting of what was to come. As quickly as it had descended upon their position, the worm's front end burst from the earth again, in the center of the path, directly in front of HUNK.
The agent greeted it by spraying its face full of incendiary rounds, the rattle of the silenced shots echoing through the night in a stream. Another grenade shell screamed through the night, hurtling down the path and slamming against the side of the creature, fire rolling over its body once more. Jill flinched backwards, startled by how close the explosion was, but recovered quickly. The shell blew off one of the legs on it, which lay burning in the dirt beside it, blood streaming freely, twitching. The impact pushed the worm partially aside for a moment stunning it, a moment that Jill standing overlooking the scene, used to raise her pistols at once and open fire as well. Its bulky form shrugged off the shell and all the rounds, righting its self back up, head seemingly looking over the three survivors, sensing their separate positions... and focusing back on the closest immediate threat. The agent, sliding a fresh magazine into the MP5, still standing where he was, holding the puddle. Its great jaw and mandibles parted again ravenously, its acidic saliva streaming down into the soil as it rose higher, sliding closer towards the armored figure. All of a sudden, it froze on the spot, remaining as still as the agent. Jill rose her weapons again after reloading herself, and was about to fire again when he gave her the signal to hold off on it. Jill, knowing what that meant, frantically tucked away her pistols and returned her attention to the loosened light post, bracing both of her arms against it.
She looked down from her position on the scene, upon the great serpent-like worm sliding slowly towards him... raising up like a cobra's head. It may as well have been some great basilisk, from one of the legends. By contrast, the comparatively tiny figure continued to hold its ground, red lenses glowing in the flashing light, and raining sparks. Slowly, the figure lowered its weapon, the red laser sight on the center of its mouth fading, as the mutated predator looming over it studied him. It looked at him with some kind of horrible intelligence and appetite. It knew who he was. Already it was savoring him... imagining his taste, and the pleasure it might get from avenging its offspring. Perhaps it intended to coat him in acid... perhaps feast on him or take him to its new hive for a fresh host. Regardless, it knew he was a dead man... someone who could not hope to fight it again. Prey that had gotten lucky before. Its great head slowly turned in her direction at last... and the same antagonistic familiarity it had towards the agent, was reflected in her. Cold fury mixed with the fear in her veins as she stared back at the thing, not daring to blink, but freely cursing at it.
"Get away from him, you bitch!"
Its jaws parted further, and a deep hiss erupted from its form, mandibles twitching, as though it understood her. It began to slide towards her, and she went for her Samurai Edge, but it stopped suddenly when HUNK fired another burst into it... then held a gloved hand shot up, curling tightly into a fist. It looked slowly away from her, and back to its closest moving quarry. He beckoned to it. And it responded, focusing gradually back on him. Neither he nor the looming thing paid her any further heed, the worm once more seemingly transfixed, sliding closer.
"That's enough. Hold your position. It wants me, Valentine. Not you. I destroyed its nest."
Jill's eyes bulged in her head, as the unnaturally calm, detached voice that seeped from the mask. She looked back down to Carlos quickly. There was abstract terror and disbelief in his eyes at what he was watching play out. He had reloaded the grenade launcher, and was aiming it at the looming worm, but remained frozen. Quite unaware she was glancing at him. Either terror, or obedience of HUNK's order seemed to hold him to the spot. Probably both. Jill looked back ahead to the agent, who remained quite absent of fear, looking back up silently at the mother as though it were a mere curiosity. Machine-like. He said nothing to the worm... as it made no sounds... but the two seemed to be communicating in their own way nonetheless. A face off. The light blinked off, draping them in shadow, and flared back up, spraying more sparks. Every time it happened, Jill nearly slipped against the light post, her hands trembling upon it. She half expected it to give way, with or without her, and electrocute the agent in front of the worm. Cook its dinner for it. She held her tongue as long as she possibly could... but her fears and voice betrayed her again.
"HUNK it's now or never! Get the hell out of the water!"
"I said hold."
The tone was colder than before, and allowed no argument... even from her. Every moment became an eternity as the adrenaline unrelentingly surged through Jill. She kept her arms pressed against the light post... and in her terror, she realized what he was doing. The genius and madness of it. He was taking advantage of its intelligence. Lulling it into a sense of security, drawing its attention of her and Carlos... and above all, the plan. Then, the thing began to rise higher, and its form grew more rigid. The acid poured more quickly from its mouth, scorching the dirt... its hunger palpable. Something changed in its stance and manner... the rage returned, and with it another low hiss, for him alone. Remaining in the puddle, not taking his eyes off the predator, he suddenly and calmly gave the signal.
"Now!"
Jill didn't think. She simply pushed all of her weight against the light post, and for one terrible moment she thought it might not be enough. That she wasn't strong enough. Then, with a creaking groan, the light post responded, and gave way, slowly falling forward. At the same moment, the worm rushed forward ravenously, descending upon HUNK's position and sliding forward. Bearing down on the figure it hated with another scream into the night. It rang painfully inside her skull, causing her to grunt audibly. Moving faster than she had ever seen him, she watched in shock as the agent dove backwards through the air, mere inches from its teeth and out of the puddle. The mask continued to peer back at the worm's nightmarish maw, even then.
He landed beyond the reach of the puddle, rolling backwards over the debris and springing back up to his feet nimbly immediately... moving in a way a man his size in all that gear had no right to. In a split second, the sparking cast iron light post touched the water. There was a buzzing hum as a vibrant blue and white electric current passed over it... and subsequently, what had replaced HUNK in the puddle. The worm instantly began to seize, moving back and forth on the spot, burning under the intense heat. Its hisses and screeches of pain continued through the night... and smoke, heavy smoke began to pour from its body, the flesh all over it starting to char, melt and blacken in the midst of its agony. Then she saw it, the red laser sight settling itself on the side of the great worm... and taking that as her own cue, she brought her sidearms to bear and opened fire at the same time he did. The differing tones of their weapons rang through the air, overtaking its screams and the electrical noises.
Its mouth opened and closed against its own will, and Jill aimed there, shooting through rows of teeth while HUNK's MP5 burned a steadily deeper hole into its throat, laser sight flashing upon it. There was another loud burst, and a grenade shell struck home against the opposite side of the worm. This time, although the round was not a napalm round, it detonated with a higher explosive force. She looked up from the writhing worm and over in Carlos's direction, to see him stepping slowly closer towards it. He kept some distance, in light of his weapon of choice, but still she could see the confidence and anger evidence, the satisfaction. The three of them were finally really hurting it, in combination with the electrocution. Perhaps, if they kept it up they could do it. Carlos reloaded his grenade launcher, and shot it again, the deafening explosion ringing out again, the impact causing the worm to collapse forward, closing back up its mouth. The shell fragments were impeded into its burnt, tough exterior, fresh green blood streaming from it as it was from the holes they were gradually punching into it.
After what felt like forever, it began to grow still, where it lay, in spite of the electrical current rolling through it. A current that had began to die out, the electricity of this particular light post at last shorting out and vanishing altogether gradually. Not even sparks were left... just the burning, massive thing laying in the water. Jill kept her pistols trained on it for a long time regardless... waiting for even a hint of a twitch. Its great bulk lay there in the mud and dirt... and didn't move an inch. When movement didn't come, only then did she slowly and reluctantly begin lowering them, breathing hard.
They had finally done it. Somehow. She dared to breath, regaining her senses gradually after the close brush with death.
She looked over to HUNK, who had lowered his own weapon and was watching her, and her swelling features smiled, very slowly nodding to him tiredly. They both knew how close it had been... how close it had been to... she didn't want to think about it. She lowered her eyes, and tried to catch her breath, savoring the coldness of the rain washing over her. She couldn't smell it, thankfully, but she could imagine how badly it must have reeked. She didn't envy the Corporal there... but if it was bad, he gave no sign of it visibly. From his position on the path, Carlos uttered a loud gloating whoop of celebration at the thing's expense, dancing and cursing at it and rubbing its misfortune in its face. Jill slowly rose her gaze his way, watching him smiling again victoriously where he stood near its ruined body. He looked back their way at last, without a trace of the anger towards them that he'd had before. He looked alive... the way he had days before, as young as he actually was, when he still had genuine amusement in his eyes. He spoke up towards them, flashing a familiar grin, voice alive and vibrant, jubilant.
"Yeah baby! Who's the fucking man?! I am! We kicked its ass and took its name! I am the ultimate badass! Did you see that shit Supercop?!"
"A little of it. Not like it almost swallowed us whole, Carlos."
"Hey, HUNK, man! Those were some kick ass moves back there! You flew right off its goddamn dinner plate! We should be calling you Spring-heeled HUNK, at this rate!"
"Oliveira. That's close enough. Get away from it."
"If that chopper is big enough at the Dead Factory, and if we find a chainsaw and there's time, we should come back for its head... I'd like to be the first guy in the world with a real life Shai-Hulud trophy hanging over my...-"
The four corners of its gaping mouth suddenly parted and burst open with a mighty scream of life, and its great bulk surged forwards, lunging towards Carlos. The young man screamed himself, jolting backwards as it began to slide its body his way, jagged rows of teeth in its maw, some broken, gnashing towards him. He rose the grenade launcher without thought and fired again... but the momentum of the great worm moved through the weight of the explosion, as it got its second wind. The sheer shock of its sudden motion almost made Jill fall over and drop her weapons. HUNK had begun to open fire on its back, to no avail. It rose up higher into the air, body surging... and mouth remaining parted, it spat a great stream of its green acid saliva at Carlos. He dived out of the way of the shower, managing to avoid the bulk of it... which began to melt the spot he had vacated. He collapsed backwards, smoking and screaming his head off with horror... and Jill acted on instinct. She rushed forward, past the worm, and over to Carlos's side on the path, kneeling next to him. For a moment, she expected to see the worst... his flesh melting off his bones. Peering through the smoke, over the gunfire behind her, she realized his grenade launcher was coated in acid and melting. A trail of the stuff, mixed with molten metal, was moving towards Carlos's hands. In his panic, his hand was clamped down on it, still enclosed.
Drawing back her boot she kicked it out of his grip, and it went sailing further down the path, still melting and falling apart. She knelt down among the dirt before him, examining his horrified features carefully and checking his vest, limbs and as much of his body as she could for any burns. Any holes or smoking on his mud stained armor, pants... anything. The smoke from the grenade launcher had dissipated... and she couldn't see anything, but she was somewhat distracted by what was advancing behind them. She looked back from their spot on the path, to find the mother worm rising high into the air again, mere feet away. Her eyes slowly rose up along its underside, and to its mouth, ready to descend upon them. She couldn't leave him here... not like this. He had gone into a panic, a meltdown, and she couldn't leave him to his fate. There was nothing left she could do... she was too tired, the pain was too great. Everything in her body hurt, and took its toll... she felt all of it. It was too strong... nothing they had thrown at it had stopped it... hurting it hadn't been enough. She was starting to fully believe that like their Pursuer, it could not be killed. Hurting it couldn't stop it, as it could her. One of her arms wrapped around Carlos's form. And yet, in spite of the overwhelming odds against them, her exhaustion, she felt equal parts exhaustion, and anger. Anger at this thing... anger at everything. Anger they could die in some God forsaken cemetery in a town soon to be consumed by fire. Fuck this thing. She would fight it to her last breath. As she would any monster.
This defiance burning within, she rose Matilda steadily, aiming up at its mouth, and she pulled the trigger. There was a subsequent deafening, fiery explosion, one with enough force to slam the writhing worm against the side of the embankment close by. Tumbling it away from the path. For a split second, she glanced down at the barrel of Matilda with shock and wonder... only to spot her owner standing on the path, smoke rising from the grenade launcher on the underside of the modified MP5. He had switched back to full auto armor piercing incendiaries, and was shooting the same spot on its head that the shell had struck, driving it further into the embankment, off to the side. The green blood streamed more heavily than before from its burnt throat, as it hissed and writhed, its focus on Carlos and Jill broken. His armored silhouette continued to pace methodically towards it, moving through the smoke, fire and rain, fighting it... with everything he had. He alternated back and forth, between the submachine gun, and blasting its hide with his shotgun when he got in closer. Reloading each weapon fluidly. She couldn't imagine how exhausted HUNK was... all his own injuries, all he had been through, and still he operated... more machine than man when it was required of him. The plan hadn't worked... but that wasn't enough to discourage him. If one plan fell apart... another could be formed. And another. And another, if required. And he would fight on, to the bitter end... and then some.
The realization dawned on her all at once, and seized on to it for strength... he was fighting on... for her and Carlos, buying them time... refusing to yield... as she nearly had. He could not be broken. Refused to give in to what it wanted. She remembered him staring back at it, without fear. She had nearly given into the thing, as she had nearly fallen to the Pursuer. Her heart beat quickened, in a manner that had nothing to do with stress, fear or exhaustion. She felt only inspiration, and drive, from witnessing his resilience... enough to push aside the pain and battle fatigue. She turned her attention back to Carlos, over the silenced gunfire, and she returned to the present. Returned to the fight. He was still screaming and shouting his head off as she knelt over him... and drawing back her hand, she did the first thing that occurred to her. She smacked him as hard as she could across the face, pain stinging from her burns under the glove, but she ignored it. He stopped screaming at once, and speaking, replaced instead by stunned brown eyes, that moved back away from the worm, and to hers dazedly. She slapped him again for good measure in the opposite direction, to be sure, and she grabbed him by the front of his body armor and uniform and began to shake him, leaning in and shouting in his face as loudly as she could. Intent on getting the message home. Bringing him back.
"Corporal! Get a hold of yourself at once! Snap out of it!", Jill demanded over HUNK's gunfire, sliding off the strap of the rifle remaining on his shoulder. Grabbing it by the stock, she pressed it against his chest, his hands instinctively gripping it with familiarity. "Pick up your weapon and fight, soldier! Your squad needs you!"
Carlos stared back at her blankly for a moment... but realization and recognition steadily returned. His surroundings. His wits returned to him, steadily getting his own second wind. Holding the rifle tighter, he rose unsteadily back to his feet, Jill helping pull him back up. Raising her Samurai Edge, she fired at the great worm again, at the same spot HUNK was hitting it. When he was up, muttering to himself, Carlos opened a pouch on his uniform, revealing a few left over grenade shells within. Three had a colorful green tint at the base... while two more had a blue instead, along with a strange electronic device attached to them... and a mist coated, frosty surface to the metal. Whatever they were, she knew what the color tints of a napalm and normal grenade shell were. These were neither of them. One of Carlos's shaky hands moved to the base of the assault rifle, sliding the attached grenade launcher on it forward. Then he slid one of his hands into the pouch, and drew it back out. His eyes moved between her and HUNK, each fighting the stunned creature... and the giant worm itself. Where the fear had been obvious before, she could see him forcing it back, replacing it with rage... rage from it making him lose control, nearly killing him.
At last, Corporal Carlos Oliveira reentered the fray.
"Yeah... yeah... I got just the thing for it!", The Corporal shouted out loud, inserting one of the green shells into the rifle's grenade launcher. Sliding it back closed and raising it to his shoulder, he peered down the sights. He pivoted on the spot and aimed up in the direction of its head, at the same spot they were shooting it. "I got some of your own medicine here! How the fuck do you like it?!"
There was a low thump as he pulled the trigger, and the M203 responded. The grenade shell hurtled through the air, almost instantly striking its target. There was an explosion, but lighter than the one proceeding it. It was barely strong enough to push its great bulky form... and for a second she thought the grenade to be a waste. A dud perhaps. But as her eyes rose back to the spot it had struck, she noted a sizable section of its burnt flesh was coated in a thick, glowing green substance of sorts. Not dissimilar from the saliva that it had been drooling and spitting before. Then, the smoke began to rise steadily from it... separate of the fire from the napalm grenade earlier... as the substance began to eat away at the thick flesh, and it uttered a painful scream, thrashing and writhing again. It turned on the spot and lashed out again in its pain, attempting to slam its bulk down on top of them... but grabbing Carlos by a strap, she pulled him out of its reach, retreating down to HUNK's position and stopping close at his side.
By then, Carlos had fitted his grenade launcher with the second green shell... and carefully aiming again, he fired it at the opposite side of the worm, striking home. All the while Jill and HUNK, on either side of the Corporal, continued to fire. The thunderous blasts of HUNK's shotgun rang through the night, as the strange burning, glowing green sludge-like substance splashed a second section of the worm, and its pained screeching grew louder. Already it was turning again, bearing down towards them, smoke heavily pouring from its crisping hide, and already Carlos was reloading the grenade launcher. The great worm rose high again in the air over top of them, looming dangerously, every bit the predator it had been before at the puddle. Ready to devour its prey, crush them into the ground. HUNK and Jill's rounds barely perturbed or slowed it... its anger and drive was too great. Jill was about to pull both of the men away from it again... when Carlos stepped forward away from them, and closer to it. He aimed up high again, to his shoulder... and gritting his teeth, he pulled the secondary trigger on it. For the third time, the grenade thumped audibly out the under barrel, and this time it struck the under side of the worm, the green substance splashing over and coating a greater surface than before. She heard HUNK bark harshly into his radio again from off to the side over the gunfire and inhuman screams... but at the sight of the worm, what was happening, Jill heard it only distantly.
"Now is not the time Doctor! A little busy! Will let you all know how I am when there's something to report! Appreciate the concern but please stay the hell off the line! It isn't a chat room! If QUARTERMASTER calls next I'm breaking this goddamn radio! Over and out!"
The substance began to burn the worm severely... perhaps more so even than the Napalm Rounds had, and by now the smoke was erupting from most of the body not underneath the ground. It screamed again, louder than before, its close proximity making Jill cease fire and grasp her head painfully. Still, she forced herself to look back up and watch it. One of its mutated legs had been splashed by the grenade, and already it was melting all the way through, pieces shriveling up and falling off. A great deal of its flesh was burning or had been burnt, in some form or another... to say nothing of the holes they had punctured into it, leaking all over its sides. At last, it seemed to recognize the pain was too great. A weakness had been found. Rising again, body weaving side to side, coiling, its intact legs began to dig again, deep down into the soil... its mouth closing back up. It dived head first back into the earth, the end up its body gradually nearing the freshly dug hole. Carlos rose the rifle again, before it could disappear altogether, and he opened fire, squeezing down on the trigger, spraying roaring bursts of lead after it. He struck the end of its body, just before it disappeared down into the earth all over again. The world of the graveyard rumbled around them, and Jill nearly slipped in fell over off some rocks, but she felt HUNK's vice like grip wrap around her, and hold her fast. Carlos dug his boots into the ground and held his position, and as one, the survivors turned in the direction the giant worm traveled, watching the dirt spray over head of the areas it weaved beneath the ground. Retreating somewhere... either further beneath the graveyard, or beyond into the forest... for the moment.
"Aw! Don't go off so soon! Just when things were getting fun!"
The Corporal called after it mockingly, uttering a burst of laughter. Slowly... very slowly, the rumbling and the seismic activity began to die down, and fade off in the distance... leaving Jill's ears painfully ringing. Only then did she gradually become aware again of the sound of the rain falling around them, splashing on the trees. And the noises coming from the woods. Breathing hard, she found herself burning up... regardless of the welcome coldness, she knew she was sweating... and her hands were certainly trembling. Looking to her side, she looked to HUNK, who relinquished his grip on her, and looked back at her for a moment, before nodding, and turning away from them. Then she looked over to Carlos, who remained quite alert, wild eyed in spite of every indication how exhausted he was. Close to the breaking point again. The man was covered in dirt stains... as she was in that and blood... but the heavy downfall of rain was gradually cleaning up some of it. And at least was the muck and grime covering his stubble lined face, as though it were a camouflage. He didn't look at her... at either of them, he merely stared at the point where he had last seen the worm... and stood there as grim and silent as the grave. Slowly, very slowly, he lowered the rifle... but still did not avert his eyes... merely breathed. Jill glanced at the rifle... to the under barrel grenade launcher... and swallowing hard, she broke the silence.
"Carlos... what the hell were you using on it?"
He was silent for a few long moments. And Jill almost thought he wasn't going to answer. Then his accented voice spoke again, slow and bitterly. He still refused to meet her eyes. His expression was unreadable, and would be even without the muck all over it.
"Acid grenades, of course. Among the other specialized Umbrella munitions we dropped in with or was scavenged or made, back at Central Street Station. There was spare gunpowder everywhere, military supplies, chemicals... and old fashioned improvisation of the supplies and weapons we found.", Carlos explained carefully at last with a reluctant shrug of his shoulders. His eyes took on a far away expression... and in his eyes, she saw him flashing back to those days. Having a good idea about whatever it was he saw in his mind's eye. "It was our duty to hold the train station... at any cost. I helped supply the means. Even being careful, ammunition can burn out quickly. We had to scavenge it... and make it, where necessary. Make it all count. Where I grew up, you made use of what you could. Whenever you could. There is a reason I am the Heavy Weapons Specialist of my team. Or was. I did what I had to. We all did."
"Acid grenades. No shit?"
"No shit. Wasn't sure they would work or not... considering all the acid it was spitting up."
"Probably only immune to its own sort of acid, not whatever is in those grenades."
"Lucky us. I know you've been through your fair share of this hell. I don't envy you the Spencer Mansion, or that Tyrant. But at least you didn't have to hold down that fucking train station on top of everything. Or have to do what we had to there to survive."
He had her there, she was certain. She had not been in the midst of the chaos in the same way he had been. She had played things more cautiously, helping and doing what she could. Remaining on the go, instead of getting bogged down in one spot. But she hadn't been on the front line with him... with the troops and officers, as one after another they had died. She'd heard it all... the explosions, gunfire all over the city, the panic of the civilians... and the moans of the dead. But she had moved carefully through it all, avoiding most contact with the enemy, not taking the bulk of it head on. Helping where she could, where she was needed most. She didn't want to even begin to ask how he'd gone about that. Nor how he could craft such ammunition. She knew how to make shells... ammunition of most kinds, but acid grenades? She was impressed. He had the will and knowledge to survive, even in the worst of it... and had used every means possible and available to do so. Somehow he had made it this far. As far as they had. Regardless of his sudden meltdown under the stress... the mere fact he had recovered in time to help drive away the worm spoke volumes in itself. Slowly, she nodded her head agreeably, following his gaze off in the distance. Overlooking the ruin that was the graveyard battlefield. None too different from the aftermath of the battlefield that had been Central Street Station, when she and HUNK had arrived there with him.
"No. I didn't. Thank God."
"I'm almost starting to think He's nowhere near Raccoon City. This is Hell on Earth. The Devil's hands at work. Nothing less."
"Valentine! Oliveira! Look alive!"
There was a great booming explosion behind them, and the two started and turned at once back to HUNK at both it and his shout. He stood at the base of the embankment, aiming up with his modified shotgun and firing at the space overlooking it. Carlos cursed in alarm and Jill watched as a rotting, moaning body collapsed above, falling forward and rolling down the embankment. It landed face up... or what was left of it, from the shotgun shell, twitching and leaking blood everywhere. There were others, assorted infected trickling in from the park's woods, pushing past the damaged and broken sections of the graveyard fence. Over the downpour of the storm, she hadn't heard their moans or shambling. She should have figured all the commotion at the graveyard would attract them. There were at least a dozen already in view from the base of the embankment... but probably more... fortunately they were disorganized for the moment, and not nearly in the numbers of the hordes out in the streets. They consisted of former park guests and employees from the looks of them... they had been probably caught by creatures in the woods, B.O.W.'s and mutations. Jill strode towards the embankment, moving to HUNK's side, aiming Matilda up the hill and peering down the sights.
She took the back of one's head off with a burst, while one of HUNK's shells blasted into one, knocking it into another, both tumbling down the embankment and into the muck below. They squirmed together, writhing and moaning, struggling to rise... only to be put down permanently by a pair of single rifle shots to the head. She glanced back to Carlos... and already with the kills confirmed, he was redirecting his scope back up the embankment, taking down an infected young woman. One of them tripped and fell down the hill, landing near Jill's feet, attempting to grab at her boot. Before it could fasten its grip, Jill kicked out her foot from its grasp, rose her uninjured leg over her head flexibly and brought down the heel of her boot on the back of its head in an axe kick, grunting. Then she repeated the move several times. Its already damaged skull broke underneath her focused strength, head slamming down beneath the weight into the mud, blood and grey matter streaming out into the puddle beneath it. It twitched for a time, but did not rise or reach for her again. She caught Carlos's eye, and the young man looked impressed by the move, but quickly moved on to shooting down the zombies. One after another they tumbled down the embankment under the sustained gunfire. HUNK's quick hands reloaded the shotgun hurriedly, and blew another zombie's head off that had landed in the dirt in front of him. Among the infected up there were some with familiar glowing eyes... Carlos targeted them, understanding like her how toxic they were if they got up close. Only one of them was wisely wearing a gas mask. The two of them took down several of them, the deadly purple vapors exploding out from where their bullets struck... too far away to poison them, along with the open air and wind direction dissipating it quickly. The mutated infected were far more dangerous indoors and up close, thankfully.
One of the figures up there did not rush or fall down the embankment clumsily or stupidly... however.
She spotted it lurking up there patiently, calculating, twitching, watching it all unfold without any eyes. The others giving it space. It was naked and tall, emaciated, the rain soaking its stark white flesh... twitching and hairless... its eyes melted shut, flesh burned and fused at places. One of the Pale Things... alien... inhuman. Carlos was right... there was nothing zombie about it anymore. The mutation had done something very wrong to it. Something she intended to correct. Before she could aim at it, it snapped into motion, taking her aback. It moved then faster than Jill had seen one move before. All but flying down the hill through the mud, twitching all the while, head shaking. Moving in a way that frightened her, dread coiling. She cursed and opened fire on it, trying to track it with her pistols, but it darted down the hill between its inferior cousins who absorbed the rounds for it unwittingly. Most of them. One of her shots struck it in the abdomen, infected blood pouring freely... but the force of it barely slowed the twitching thing. And before her very eyes it began to smoke as the wound knitted its self back to, the rain washing away the blood as well, as though it had never been. It continued to charge... not towards Jill or Carlos... but to HUNK, seeing only him, the most dangerous of them. It must have assessed the group... assessed their threat levels, she was certain of that now. For the first time it made a sound she had never heard from its lungs before... it emitted a shrill, inhuman shriek that echoed through the night over the storm. Charging the U.S.S. Agent who turned just in time to meet it with his shotgun. Its roar met the Pale Thing at point blank range, blowing apart a section of its chest cavity... but that didn't stop it.
"HUNK! Get out of the way!"
Her warning shout cut through the night too late as it tackled the U.S.S. Agent down into the mud among the corpses, and the agent's shotgun fell at his side, both hands grabbing its wrists, struggling with it. Even with how emaciated it was it was unnaturally strong... she remembered how easily one had stolen her assault rifle at the clock tower. Jill charged it blindly on instinct, firing her Samurai Edge into its back repeatedly, and when she got close enough tried to knock its tensed figure off him with a hard kick. Her boot impacted almost uselessly against its back, knocked it aside only slightly, distracting it enough for HUNK to get some leverage, and with a swipe of its arm it drove her backwards, collapsing on the embankment painfully. It rose its head then, looking back down to HUNK, its twitching worsening, making a sickening sound as its maw parted... and just in time HUNK dodged his own head to the side. The thing spat a mouthful of acid saliva at him, which struck the ground where his head had been, melting the spot, smoking and burning the dirt and rocks and bricks, scorching each. With a sudden flurry of precise movements, taking it off guard, HUNK retaliated by drawing and driving his combat knife up under its chin, through the throat and through the top of its skull. Then gripped and broke its thin right arm in three places, compound fractures, bone jutting through its taut, bloody flesh, breaking its grip and throwing it off himself and face first in the muck, its broken arm dangling uselessly at its side. With a grunt he reached down, took it by the handle jutting out of its skull and the other side of its head, and in a quick, hard movement he snapped its neck cleanly as well, bone cracking audibly as it's neck and head bent to an unnatural angle. He tore the bloody serrated titanium combat knife out of its skull and throat smoothly, dropping its body to the mud, before stepping back and scooping up the fallen shotgun. While he did that, Jill watched, numbly, as the Pale Thing on the ground casually popped its neck back in place with a sudden sickening twist of its entire head... a sight the U.S.S. Agent caught as well as he rose over it. When it tried to rise after him, reach a long fingered hand out for his leg, he slammed it in the face with the stock of the shotgun, with another sickening crunch of broken bone... shattering the fangs in its maw as well, knocking it back down. Still it hissed, spat, smoked and bled all over itself, remaining teeth gnashing... new fangs already growing, all its wounds starting to heal, and it continued to attempt to rise.
Jill, gritting her teeth, fired a burst of Matilda into its head from her position nearby, knocking it back sharply, while HUNK fired another shell into its side, knocking it down again, and still it tried to rise. The gaping hole exposing its rib cage and thin muscle was already knitting back together, twisting its broken arm back into place with more snaps and healing it as well. The machine pistol's wounds that tore its already absent face apart knitting over simultaneously. Grinning maw of gnashing, razor teeth deepening. To Jill's stunned, growing horror, the twitching thing just kept trying to stand up, unfettered by everything the agent and her had thrown at it. Whatever the hell it was, it was an abomination she hadn't imagined the T-Virus ever mutating into.
"HUNK! Remember the flamethrower at the hospital?!", Carlos called over the roar of his rifle to the U.S.S. Agent, then, from behind her, where he continued to battle the common infected streaming down the embankment himself. "Set that Nosferatu motherfucker on fire and saw of its limbs! Stop ice skating uphill and give it the Blade treatment already!"
HUNK merely glanced to Carlos while his hands remembered... in a flurry of movement he rapidly slung the shotgun, sheathed his by now cleaned from the rain combat knife and took up the MP5 again. The red laser sight flashed brightly on the center of its twitching, snarling face, acid saliva flowing freely... and with the familiar echoing clicks of the silencer, HUNK opened up on it. Firing a burst into its face and targeting each limb. Fire rolled over it and it shrieked again, worse than it had before... writhing, and Jill scrambled up from the embankment, ignoring her pain. During a brief lull in the combat of the other infected, her and Carlos moved up to either side of the agent, leveling their own weapons on the regenerating monster and opening up as well. The two pistols and rifle helping finish it off. Choosing a limb and opening fire on them. They tore it to pieces under the barrage of assorted weapons, each limb coming loose and all of it consumed in the flame of HUNK's specialized rounds. It screamed so loud she thought her head would explode... but it fell silent into the night, around the same time it finally stopped twitching. Too damaged to repair itself any longer. Sure enough... even it had limits. HUNK's muffled, deep breaths at her side returned her to the present as well... faster breaths than usual... but by then, all three of them were already panting as though they had run a marathon.
One that wasn't even over yet.
Familiar moans returned, the remaining common infected from the woods, and they whirled around and met them with lead and true death. Working at finishing up the last of those that had arrived, their bodies falling this way and that. Losing herself in it, jaw tightening to keep from screaming as she fired.
As it had been with the sliding worms, they didn't stand much of a chance under the alternating fire and team work of the three survivors, even worn down as they were. But being the seemingly mindless things they were, driven by their insane hunger, they were incapable of realizing that. Her heart, ironically, began to slow down and relax mopping up the last of them, as it had raced fighting the worm mother... the Grave Digger... and the Pale Thing. Part of her was starting to think that with the right weapons, and the time, the three of them could clean up every monster shambling in the streets. It wasn't exactly an option she would have wanted to explore, if it had been possible... but it occurred to her nonetheless. She didn't understand how so many police officers and soldiers could fall to these... things. The chaos of the outbreak alone was all she could think of... and lack of information. But then, there had been plenty of each when her team had reached the Spencer Mansion. They had adapted to the zombies... once they had figured out to aim for the head. Still... there had been less of them up there, she had to admit. Maybe swarming tactics were more efficient than she'd previously believed. Combined with lack of information, the soldiers and cops would have sprayed into the great horde... thinking it would be enough. That head shots were unnecessary. It was amazing what panic and fear could do to a normally rational mind. If they had listened to her, as she'd tried to tell them... she could have gotten the knowledge around for defeating them. But her pleading had been in vain. Hopefully, it had at least made a difference favorably for a few of the people she had told. So many small factors could tip the odds in the favor of these things, if one wasn't careful.
Between the noisy rainfall and the Grave Digger... Jill had not been focused on their surroundings, on the embankment. Moreover, she'd not considered more zombies arriving, in their present situation. Combining that with her exhaustion and pain all over... she was not nearly as alert or focused as she should have been. Fortunately for them, HUNK had been watching their perimeter. Mentally she kicked herself, and remained focusing on helping mop up the rest of the zombies. Slowly, the trickling stream of creatures from the woods, and their bodies lining various sections of the embankment, began to slow. Fewer arrived through the broken fencing... and before long, only two or one at a time. She shot those she could before they reached the edge of the embankment, causing them to fall backwards instead of joining them in the mass pit that had been a graveyard. They were returning where they belonged, she realized, in an odd way. To the cemetery they'd not been buried in. Finally, the last of the zombies were dealt with... leaving behind a rotting mess of corpses... dozens in all she guessed. Closer to a hundred than not. She could hear no more immediate moans from the woods... but she was certain there were more out there, making their slow approach. Perhaps worse things. Perhaps more like the Pale Thing. She prayed to God that wasn't the case.
Slowly, Jill lowered her pistols, and at her side HUNK lowered the submachine gun, reloading it again. Carlos continued to sweep the ridge above, back and forth methodically, keeping his intent eyes out for any more of them. Jill's eyes lowered to the nearby burning, formerly Pale Thing... its crisp, blackened flesh. Its limbs sawed apart by gunfire. Smoke and flames still rising high from it. Mercifully, her broken nose didn't let her smell the burnt flesh or the other rotting corpses surrounding them. She drew a low, steadying breath, shaking her head side to side wearily. A grim, low voice emerging that barely sounded like her own, in that moment, assessing the reality of the situation.
"Fuck... and that was just one of them..."
HUNK looked to her then, and down to the Pale Thing at their boots... and said nothing of the observation. Meeting her eyes, no words were necessary. Jill watched as HUNK turned in another direction when the area was all clear... looking past her and to the young man. His low, muffled tone emerged again over the rain through the mask, sharp and intent. Returning them to the primary battle.
"Oliveira... do you have any of those Acid Grenades left?"
"Burned through my limited stock of them on the Grave Digger, but it was almost worth it. Give me the right chemicals, gunpowder, some empty shell casings and time, and I can make more.", Carlos answered at once, pausing for a moment, before elaborating a bit. "But I don't think we're liable to find any of the above in the middle of this rotting sinkhole. Call me crazy."
"I shouldn't think so. Pity. Seemed to be a weakness."
"What about the blue ones?" Jill asked Carlos suddenly, the thought occurring to her. Remembering the shells she had seen in his pouch. The young man looked over at her quickly, a confused look flickering in his eyes. She clarified for him immediately. "The blue marked grenade shells. You had them with the Acid Grenades. What do those do?"
"Those... aren't going to work. Not against this thing, anyways. Just trust me on that one."
"If there's a chance they can help, we should...-"
"Forget it. They're already reserved for something else. If we live long enough to get the chance."
His tone was a bit dismissive and evasive. Clipped. His stance changed a bit, shifting uncomfortably. Nothing in his tone or manner indicated he wanted to get into it. And even if she had wanted to pursue it, he quickly moved on before she could. Redirecting their focus to the problem at hand.
"So it leads back to the same question. How the hell are we going to kill it? Its going to come back, like before... and I'm shit outta ideas.", Carlos muttered tiredly, at last lowering his rifle from the ridge and looking between them and the graveyard. He gestured the barrel of the rifle down at the closest blood and grime soaked corpse to him. He kicked its head aside, watching it flop into the mud uselessly. His expression showed nothing but contempt for the dead, rotting thing. "These zombies were nothing, compared to it. Those B.O.W.'s and mutants got nothing on it. Bullets didn't work. Electricity, Napalm and Acid Grenades didn't work, even if we scared it off for a few minutes. Thing is probably out there healing, with our luck. Do either of you have any more bright ideas? Or are we gonna have to call in a tank division or gunship from the Army trapping us inside this fucking city? You gonna call up SHIPMASTER for an airstrike from the Leviathan? Or we just stand here waiting for the nuke to go off eventually?"
Jill looked over to HUNK, meeting his stare back her way. The Corporal had a way of cutting through the bullshit and getting to the point when he had to. Truth be told, she had no clue how to proceed. How to kill it. The electrocution should have by all means been enough... but somehow it had survived. It had survived between that and a hail of bullets and grenades. A part of her did want to retreat, run away from the thing... but she remembered HUNK fighting it unceasingly. And she remembered the way it had fled them eventually... three times now, at a certain point when they had managed to hurt it. It could sense them as a threat... every bit as much as they knew it was one. And that had her curious. Ever since HUNK had burned its hive... since the two of them had fought it in the sewers, it had marked them... hiding out there, biding its time. They had to kill it, here and now. There could be no more retreats. Escape may have been their overall objective... but killing the monster was their most pressing one in the here and now of the graveyard. They would kill it on its own land... and bury it in the cemetery pit with its monstrous children. Still... she had no backup plan, beyond continuing to shoot it, wearing it down. Fortunately that was not the case for all of them.
"Thermobaric strike. And yes. I have an idea.", HUNK corrected the young man and confirmed at last, slowly looking away from Jill's eyes. He shifted his attention back ahead to the Corporal. "Do you have any containers of explosive shells in the backpack, Oliveira?"
"One or two. How many shells do you need?"
"An entire case.", HUNK informed him quite calmly and coolly. "Now."
Carlos didn't reply... he merely looked slowly back into the lenses of HUNK's mask. Then over to Jill, and back to the agent. He seemed to discern something. How serious in intent the agent was. That maybe there was hope for them after all. But he didn't want to get his hopes up, keeping his expression carefully neutral. Shrugging his shoulders, he obeyed the agent, lowering down to one metal knee pad in the grime and setting down his rifle. He removed the backpack and put it in front of him, zipping open the big bulky bag and rummaging around inside it. Shifting the healing supplies, ammunition and rations within. While the young man did so, Jill stepped closer to the observing agent, setting a hand on his wrist and leaning in. Tone hushed and curious.
"What do you have in mind, HUNK?"
"Something that will finish the job. We cannot remain bogged down here.", HUNK's low tone replied to her a shade quieter, for her alone. He slowly turned back to her, her twin reflections dancing in his rain soaked lenses. "I'm going to require your Mine Thrower for this plan as well."
Jill paused for a moment... a bit startled. She had somehow almost somehow forgotten she was carrying the Mine Thrower, even heavy as it was. It, like her pouches, the bandages, weapons, even the pain... had become a part of her. She had doubted and still did that it would have made much of a difference against the Grave Digger... between the limited ammunition, and how ineffective most of the grenades had been. She tucked away her Samurai Edge and Matilda again, reaching for the strap on her unmarred shoulder. Taking it off, she held up the Mine Thrower in both hands before HUNK, holding it out in offering it to him. To her surprise, his gloved hands didn't reach for them, rather he merely shook his head slightly.
"You will be operating it, Valentine. Not I."
"Are you sure? If this idea works and we can finally kill it... I don't want to screw it up. "
"You won't. Trust yourself. Like I trust you."
"Got your shells right here, Secret Agent Man. Think fast.", The Corporal spoke up over their words, interrupting the moment, pulling a decent sized white case out of the bag by the handle. From where he knelt, with a little exertion of the weight, he pitched it up to HUNK. The agent quickly pressed the safety on his submachine gun, letting it dangle by the strap and caught the case carefully in both hands. "Were you planning telling us what the hell you're thinking? I hope it isn't complicated."
HUNK didn't answer him right away. Rather, he popped open the case and began to examine the numerous shells stacked within. Their brass cases shone in the light posts... and Jill glanced down inside as well, looking them over. They were a mixed case, full of both high explosive grenades and napalm grenades, the grey and red markings on each. Carlos had probably mixed them up himself at some point. Droplets of rain ran along the outer shells of the explosives... and they glinted in HUNK's lenses. At last, satisfied with the contents of the case, he spoke again, head slowly rising from the case and back to Carlos. He watched the young man as though he had not spoken before... even as he answered him.
"No. You lure the Grave Digger back down here. You distract it when it surfaces. I set fire to a cloth and put it inside the grenade case. When its mouth opens, I throw the case inside. Valentine fires a heat seeking explosive dart at the case. When it impacts, we take cover during the few seconds of delay. The case detonates inside it. And we see if that puts it down or not."
Jill's eyes widened slightly at the revelation of a plan. Carlos too looked a bit startled by its simplicity... and ingenuity. How long had he been thinking it up? Had he pieced together all the different ways they could kill it, while they had been fighting it? Studying its weaknesses? Did he have any backup plans if it didn't work? One thing she was certain of... he wouldn't be suggesting it if he wasn't more than certain it had a chance of working. He rose a good point... killing it from within. Its outer skin, its shell, was too tough... they could wear it down very gradually... at the cost of their ammunition, and probably lives. There was no way they could keep it going much longer... and the longer they spent in the cemetery, the closer zero hour of Raccoon City's destruction drew. Fighting it as they had was a fool's errand. They had to think outside the box if there was any hope of succeeding... the same way he had been demonstrating since they had met. Unpredictability. Lateral thinking. The way she had survived the Spencer Mansion... along with her team.
"Well... it's not complicated, anyways.", Carlos spoke first after the long pause, clearly mulling it over. There was some measured reluctance in his voice... but also a begrudging respect. "And it beats wasting more grenades on its outside. That's going to take some crackerjack timing though. One wrong move and it's game over, man."
"Any better suggestions?"
No verbal response came. Not from Carlos, and certainly not from Jill. But a response of sorts did come from far away, though, somewhere off in the distance. The unmistakable rumble of tunneling... seismic activity... nothing shook around them, yet... but they could still hear it out there. Readying as they were, for another encounter. Carlos's fearful eyes shot over in the direction of the woods beyond the graveyard and burning cabin. The trees and dense bushes shook... leaves tumbled down from the many branches in unison with the rain. And the Corporal at last answered HUNK in his own way. After looking up again at the agent for a few moments, he peered back down at his backpack. And began closing it back up. Putting it back on and taking up his rifle. Rising up to his feet once more, the matter sealed beyond a doubt.
"That's what I thought."
HUNK stated dryly after observing the young man's reaction, snapping the case shut again, lowering it to his side. He reached into a pouch on his body armor, and Jill watched him draw out a familiar metal casing... the Bar Black Jack lighter she had given him at Central Street Station. That she had assembled, not long before she had met him at the police station. She remembered the one he had traded it with her for... the one that hadn't worked, with the white and black Umbrella logo she'd never seen before. He moved over towards the large puddle, standing at its edge, unconsciously flicking open and closed the lighter. For some reason, it felt good seeing him use something she had given him. She wondered if he liked how she handled Matilda... if he even thought about it. She was probably being stupid again... romantic. Even at the worst possible time. But why the hell not? She'd earned the right to be... and it might be the last time she could. If she was going to die... she was damn well going to do so as herself. Being true to what she was. The woman she was.
"Time to get to work. You're up, Oliveira. Like the hospital. Move out. Valentine, stay close to me and remain alert."
Jill tightened her grip on the Mine Thrower and turned on the spot, following Carlos's look off into the woods. The noises grew louder... the tunneling was bringing down trees... she could hear them, crashing into one another. Collapsing to the forest floor. The creaking of wood. She could make out no further moans of the dead... but by then, that would be the least of their troubles. Carlos and Jill joined HUNK by the puddle, on either side of him. Jill kept the Mine Thrower risen at the ready, but her finger off the trigger... not one round could go to waste. On HUNK's other side, the Corporal drew a breath... glancing sideways at them wearily, and reluctantly looking back ahead. Raising the rifle and its grenade launcher, Carlos knew his cue. Jill watched him start forward, through the puddle and over the fallen, useless light post within it. Carlos swept forward over the puddle, climbing out of it and up through the sunken graveyard, moving in a careful, professional manner. They watched from the puddle as his rifle scanned the area ahead... probably looking for any further threats from its children, before advancing deeper into the graveyard, towards the source of the noise. Muttering audibly as he did so.
"God damn it... I should have stayed in school... my grandmother was right..."
The crashing and shaking in the woods only grew worse... but it did not emerge from the treeline. It was in there, deep in there somewhere. For all its rage towards them, Jill knew... there was something else... perhaps their last brush with it had introduced it to fear, if it hadn't been already. Maybe it was as afraid of them as they were of it... or maybe she just wanted to think that. Had to think that. It was intelligent. Any intelligent thing would show some hesitance, before potentially diving into the fire once more. But its rage could yet be its greatest weakness, to be exploited. She glanced from Carlos in the distance to HUNK, standing perfectly still. Perhaps he knew that too. Having looked into its maw... having destroyed its hive before. He did not look back at her, he stood at attention and oversaw the battlefield like a cold blooded military commander. It was another side to him she hadn't considered, she realized. A leader watching his soldier advance upon the enemy's position, yards away from them, his low breathing audible. It could very well have been a chess game... sending out his lone Knight or Rook, while the King stayed back. She wondered how it had been, with his team, before they had been wiped out by the mutated Birkin. What manner of commander he was. Before this, all of this. Had he cared for the lives of his team members, in any way? Or had it always been the mission first? Did he give them any thought now that they were dead, like she saw the faces of her fellow S.T.A.R.S.? He operated well on his own, she had little doubt... and he did in the small team they had formed. What of a larger one, and with men and women more like him? Other Umbrella secret agents... special forces... not a civilian cop and rookie mercenary as companions.
Was he like Wesker, Mikhail, or did he lie somewhere between in his leadership? His thoughts were as impenetrable as his lenses. There were many things she wished to ask... but even as the nature of their relationship changed... there were many of those things she knew better than to prod. Things, she admitted to herself, she was scared to ask him about. Even now, part of her was still considering the information about him Nikolai had spouted, trying to make some sense of it. Now wasn't the time... she would have to figure it out later. She slowly looked back to Carlos, to find him standing on the northern side of the cemetery, having climbed among the debris, the rock and mounds of dirt. He stood amid the pouring rain upon one such mound, near the edge of the adjacent embankment from their position. She could hardly make out his features, in the distance and the downpour, but it was clear enough, courtesy of the glow of the cabin fire, and some of the remaining intact lights around the park. He did not want to be out there. Nevertheless, he held his ground. The rumbling in the woods had neither died down, nor grew any louder. It was persistent, on going and grating. She imagined it was much worse for Carlos. Jill watched, heart racing quicker with fear and concern, as he rose the rifle higher into the air in the direction of the woods.
He stood like that for a moment, still as a statue himself. Then he broke it, squeezing down on the grenade launcher's trigger. The explosive shell flew in an arc, and flew true, soaring past the embankment and over the edge of the woods. It struck visibly, somewhere out there, in a great explosion and splash of fire... and the rumbling suddenly died away as the fire licked over the bushes and spread and burned. The Corporal continued to look ahead, as Jill silently implored him to get away... to run back to their position. At once. Sensing the same danger in the silence as she, apparently, she held her breath unconsciously when he turned away and began to flee the northern side of the cemetery. He fired several individual shots into the air as he ran along... and she knew what he was doing, giving it an audible path with which to track him back down into the cemetery. The silence only remained a moment longer, as he ran with all he had, jumping, shooting, climbing and scrambling over everything in his way, nearly tripping. Then, there was another scream from the woods, and it began to tunnel again, moving audibly towards them. Giving chase after the Corporal. She shouted encouragement for him suddenly, the words bursting from her lungs before she could quiet them. She shouted for him to run faster, not to look back, told him that he could make it.
All the while HUNK stood silently, appraising the situation beside her, case down at one side, opened lighter risen in the other. The Grave Digger burst forth from the woods, breaking down a pair of trees in its path, the dirt erupting from the surface as it dug a trail after Carlos. A grave. To her anger and exhaustion, she saw that most of its many wounds over the course of the battle had already healed over... regenerated... as the Pale Thing had, though leaving significant scarring behind. It passed beneath the gates and embankment, entering the graveyard as Carlos reached little more than the half way distance from them. Even with all the gear and weight on him, his exhaustion and pain, he moved like a man possessed, not daring to look back. Not daring to slow down. Jill peered through the sights of the Mine Thrower, tracking the movement of the Grave Digger through them. Her finger inched towards the trigger... and she had to deliberately restrain herself from squeezing it. Her heart pounded louder in her chest by now, in her ears... she kept seeing the terrible image, of it rising beneath his feet... the same image she'd had when HUNK had lured it to the puddle. Its mandibles parting, and its vast maw engulfing the man. It took all she had to force the image of it aside, it dragging Carlos down screaming into the dirt. Swallowing him whole. Or even worse... dragging him to the hive. Her hands trembled on the mine thrower, and she was forced to grip it tighter. The yards between them and Carlos were closing quickly... and those between them and the Grave Digger more rapidly still. And still, HUNK stood calmly, unmoved by the sight before him, the potential death of his subordinate. Unmoved by it... while Jill felt sick in her stomach again, a wave of nausea she had to fight back, watching him run from death.
Unable to do anything to help.
After everything they'd kept from him... the vaccine he had helped retrieve for her... now they had to use him like this. He had gone willingly, without complaint, recognizing their dilemma... but it was of no comfort. Nor did she deserve any. This wasn't right... it was evil. And she was playing a part in it. It should have been her out there luring it back... not Carlos, who had done enough. The Grave Digger rode sleekly through the earth behind him, criss crossing and weaving, more like a serpent in that regard than a worm. Like its children. When Carlos was nearly upon them, along with the Grave Digger, HUNK suddenly sprang into action, seizing her by the wrist and drawing her back off to the side of the puddle and path. Moving out of Carlos's way as he climbed over the last obstacle, leaping forward into the water, breathing deeply and wading through it with clear difficulty. Jill nearly started forward to help him, but HUNK held her fast, a few yards away. She looked to his lenses and he silently shook his head, gesturing to the Grave Digger... as at last it emerged again in all its terrible might, bursting forth from the soil in front of the puddle. Puncturing a gaping hole in the earth. It rose ever higher, perhaps taller than it had before, most of its body protruding from the dirt and muck, displaying all the terrible healed over acid and napalm burns scorching a good portion of its outer layers. But not all the wounds had healed yet. The deep whittling of holes all over, some more concentrated, larger than the others had healed. The soil clung to its wounds as though some manner of ointment, staunching the bleeding that before had been obvious.
It loomed over Carlos as his boots, thick with mud and grime, carried him out of the puddle. Spinning back around on the spot he quickly primed another grenade into the rifle and aimed up at it. He fired another shell in its direction, striking the underside of its body with great force... but not enough to knock it over. Certainly enough to push it back slightly. Its jaws parted again, and it released another hissing scream, the familiar acid saliva pouring from its maw. It remained in front of the puddle a moment longer, studying it carefully... and Jill realized with awe what it was doing. It was being careful, in case the electricity within activated again, and caught it a second time. It could think and adapt. Even though there were no more sparks or visible electric current, it wasn't taking any chances. Instead of moving through it, lunging towards Carlos on the other side, its body fell forward to the ground next to the puddle and it began to loop and coil around it, out of reach of the deep water. It moved as its children did once more, sliding over the surface, twisting and turning in Carlos's direction. For his part, Carlos opened fire on it again with his rifle rounds, pouring a stream of fresh lead in the direction of its maw. He edged back slowly, stepping backwards towards the embankment, nearly tripping over the bullet ridden stacks of infected corpses along its base along the way. She could hear him, from where they stood off to the side, swearing every curse word under the sun, kicking aside rotting bodies as he moved away from them and further down the trail.
He popped out his spent magazine and inserted another, raising the rifle again and firing away, firing at its mouth and head... to little effect. The fear was picking up in his expression, fear he tried to keep in tight reign... where other men would have broken facing the horror in front of them, Carlos fought on. Didn't crack up, as he had before. Jill, unable to bear sitting it out any longer, started forward, intent on joining into the fray and helping him, raising the Mine Thrower. She couldn't hold back any longer like this... it was taking too long, and he needed them. But as she began to move, HUNK grasped her by the arm and pulled her back again to his side, turning her slightly on the spot so her eyes met his red, water soaked lenses again. Burning into her, amid the rain and gunfire. She felt intimidation, at his steely tone and manner... but she didn't back down entirely... feeling anger as well for the callousness.
"Hold this position. He knows what he's doing."
" It's going to kill him! HUNK, we have to do something! Now!"
"Yes. On my first signal shoot it once in the back. Draw its full attention to us. We will only have one shot at this. At my second signal, aim carefully and fire at the case. It's all up to you now, Jill. Our lives are in your hands."
Jill stared back up at him, eyes widening slightly at the enormous responsibility being placed into her hands. His life. His mission. Slowly, very slowly she somehow managed to nod. HUNK, when he seemed assured of her compliance, released her at once in the wake of the sudden command, kneeling down to the ground. He set the case down in front of them, and popped it open, revealing the glinting, wet grenades inside again. He rose the lighter and glanced back up at her, battle scarred helmet nodding for her to go ahead. The agent gestured with a hand signal for her to fire upon the creature. It was all she needed. At once she peered down the sights, and her finger settled over the trigger. Squeezing it, there was the familiar loud pop as a blinking dart shot out the end of the Mine Thrower, and a measure of recoil that jolted her. It soared instantly through the air, sharpened titanium tip embedding itself into the Grave Digger's back, amid the numerous wounds and burns there. It didn't even feel the light impact when it sank in. It was still advancing on Carlos, who continued spraying it down with rifle rounds, backing away from it almost beyond their view. The glowing blue light upon the mine began to blink faster, its glow turning red, and beeping faster as the seconds passed... and as suddenly as it had fired, it detonated. A powerful explosion rippled over the Grave Digger, spraying dust and dirt everywhere, knocking it aside on the spot and freezing it for a few moments on the trail.
For a split moment... Jill thought, hoped it had killed the thing at last... but knew even then it was too much to ask for. As HUNK had predicted, it lost all interest in the Corporal at once, and began to loop back around, head turning, mandibles and rows of teeth parting again. Beyond its hulking body, Carlos had ceased fire, and stood some yards away from it down the pathway towards the sewer well they had come from. His eyes were wide with shock and exhaustion at his close brush with death... and he seemed to recognize what they were doing, looking past it and down at Jill with her Mine Thrower and HUNK kneeling before the grenade case. The Grave Digger looked back at them as well, saliva running from its maw and scorching rock... knowing them all too well by now. It rightly perceived them as the greater threat. At once, it turned its self around, slamming down into the dirt in front of them and starting forward... mouth opened all the way and ravenous in hunger. Jill held her ground, ignoring against her own will the impulse to fire again down its throat, before his next signal... and ignoring the impulse to fall back.
She trusted him... she had to trust him to know what was best in a battle like this... his experience and knowledge. She trusted him, after everything they had been through. Everything was at stake for them now. There were no other dangers, looming or more immediate than this... thing. Jill's Mine Thrower remained up at her shoulder, finger frozen over the trigger, and at the familiar clicking of a lighter, her eyes swiveled over to HUNK, kneeling at her side. The Bar Black Jack lighter had been activated, a tall flame emerging from its tip, defying the rain. HUNK's other hand had slipped into one of his pockets... producing a familiar long cloth from before, covered in Jill's dried blood. He pressed the tip of the flame to the cloth, and almost at once it caught up, the flames growing brighter and starting to travel, the rag going up. In the same lightning fast movement of his hands, he tucked it at the corner of the grenade case, and closed it back up on the cloth, snapping it shut. He left half of it dangling out of the case... a lit makeshift fuse of sorts, and at once he was standing back up and drawing back the case, moving it behind himself. His stance changed immediately, into that of a professional combat soldier, not a still statue. The manner of a man who had been doing this for years. A man, she recognized, was more of a soldier than she or anyone else could ever be. Dog tags or not. Fearless. Confident. Unbreakable. Then, his deep, authoritative tone emerged again loudly from his mask... at last giving her the signal.
"Now!"
Drawing back the flaming case of grenades, HUNK threw it forward with a grunt through his mask, the white case hurtling through the air. The Grave Digger bore down on them, for what seemed even to it to be its final chance to take revenge, ignoring the flaming case and blindly charging at the two survivors beyond it. Jill's sights were immediately upon the case, and she held her breath as she began to track it with the scope. Only for an instant... her instincts kicked in at once. All the years of her marksman training... her usage of it in the field. Her instincts not as a cop or a civilian, but as a soldier herself. The grueling boot camp that had been her military training. She remembered every moment of it, every lesson, and it all came back to her. She remembered her discipline... HUNK reminded her of it with his presence. His trust in her as a fellow soldier with something so important as this. She saw her training as vividly as the mansion, felt it at her core. She hoped to make the Gunny proud, if he had been watching. Squeezing down the trigger, her formerly contorted expression growing cold and still. In that moment, former S.T.A.R.S. Officer and U.S. Army Specialist Jill Valentine took the most important shot of her life to that point.
"Smile, you ugly mother...-"
The dart was released with another powerful burst of sound. It flew fast, and flew true, altering its course only slightly to track the source of heat passing through the air. It slammed into the side of the flaming case, puncturing it as it continued to tumble towards the beast. The momentum of the dart propelled the case even faster towards its target. A familiar blue glow began to blink, turned red as the beeping started... but that was the last of it Jill saw as it flew down the monster's gullet. And the last she saw of the monster alive. Before she could finish her sentence, at the very instant the arcing dart compromised the case hurtling towards the Grave Digger's gaping, acid flowing maw, HUNK had grabbed her and pulled her backwards roughly with ease. She shouted loudly, echoing through the sinkhole for Carlos to run away as well. Behind them the Grave Digger screamed one final all consuming wail... a death's chorus that echoed through the park and beyond, and inside Jill's head, drowning out the rain, the undead moans and the telltale beeping inside its gullet. Pulling herself into a mad run beside him, they ran back down the trail towards the burning cabin and muddy, corpse covered embankment. Her heart raced in her ears in a steady pulse, reminding her she was alive. Even as it screamed and hissed, the Grave Digger disappeared and Carlos disappeared. Her body acted of its own accord, her mind was somewhere else far away as time moved around her in a blur. None of it seemed real... rather it had all the fluidity of a dream they had all been submerged in. HUNK pulled her into a dive, behind a pile of rubble and dirt not far from the Grave Digger's final position. She landed heavily and painfully on the ground among the corpses, dropping the Mine Thrower and in a moment he was on top of her, shielding her with his armored, fireproof body.
Her arms wrapped around his form and held him as tight as she possibly could, fearfully burying her face into his shoulder and closing her eyes at all cost. The explosion... implosion, came then from within the Grave Digger, as the plan had intended. It was a mighty deafening explosion, the simultaneous eruption of numerous grenade shells that alone proved capable of drowning out its screams of rage, ripping through the night. And utterly cutting its screams off forever. Jill remained in warm darkness for a time, floating, with no clear sense of how long. Hearing her own breaths. Her ears continued ringing from the blast after it had settled down... but gradually, that familiar low, muffled breathing brought her back. Overtook the ringing and slowly replaced it. She felt his powerful arms protectively around her... as hers were around him. She didn't dare break the embrace... or draw back from the comfort of it first. After a time, he did. His arms left her body... and she felt his weight retract and shift, pulling reluctantly from her slackening grip. She felt rain droplets falling upon her again... the cold, the fresh air, as she returned to the world. Her eyes opened to the hazy, darkened sky above... and more closely, his mask hovering over her face. His glove offered to her, while he held his weapon in the other.
Slowly, she sat up and took his hand, feeling his strong grip drawing her back up to her shaky legs, away from the rotting, infected corpses surrounding them. Drawing her close again, and stepping back when he was certain she could stand. Stretching her painful limbs and joints, she took a few steps, past him, away from the mound they had hid behind... and back on to the muddy cemetery's path below the embankment. She froze on the spot when her surroundings returned... and slowly turned down the path, peering down it numbly. Watching what resided there, next to what was left of the puddle. Behind her, HUNK moved audibly, stepping up to her side, and offering back her fallen Mine Thrower. Her eyes left the trail, and returned to his cracked and intact red lenses intently. Against herself, a thin, exhausted smile touched her lips, as she accepted back the Mine Thrower from him in both hands, her fingers touching his during the exchange.
"We're... we're alive. I... can't believe that actually worked..."
"Don't sound so surprised, Valentine."
"We did it... we killed the Grave Digger..."
"So we did."
"For a moment there... no, for most of it... I thought..."
Jill broke off, closing her eyes tightly. She felt shame mixing in with her exhaustion... how close she had come to giving up, dooming them all. It twisted her insides... she wanted to cry, wanted to laugh, wanted to scream. wanted to dance like a lunatic... but she was too damn tired for any of them. Too pained. She felt his hand move to her bruised, swelling features, strong fingers brushing her soaked hair tenderly out of her eyes, touching her cheek in a fond, reassuring gesture. It was a gesture surely awkward to him... but he made it nonetheless for her... and her eyes opened again, peering back at him. She nodded to him silently, her faint smile remaining, and he lowered his hand wordlessly. He knew. He understood. He didn't have to say anything about it... nor she any further. Then she turned... they turned together, and observed their quarry. His low, muffled tone spoke again over the patter of rain, as they watched together what was left. His voice was relaxed and subdued... leisurely... in a manner that reminded her of their moment in the courtyard. She felt the same strange sense of peace as before, them standing in the eye of the storm... somehow still alive in it.
"Its ok. You did well, Jill."
"I had good teachers, along the way."
"That makes two of us."
The Grave Digger was dead.
Just as surely as most of its offspring were, and the rest that would be soon. And like its progeny, it would haunt them no further than a memory. A nightmare. All that remained otherwise was exactly that. Its ghastly, heaping, scattered remains... smoking with fire, and from the thick flowing green acidic fluids running from the spot where its massive head had been. Great plumes of smoke rose from its remains... part of it deflating almost like a balloon the more fluids ran out in a river beneath it. It resided in a smoking crater... in the middle of a cemetery sink hole... in a grave of its own, surrounded by the bodies of the undead. In the blast, many of the infected and mutated bodies had been blown to pieces, strewn all around it, some burning. Others remained intact... but all of them surrounded the burning remains of the Grave Digger. They weren't the only pieces... it was the same thing with the remains of the offspring they had dealt with before... pieces floated by in the puddle, or were strewn over the same area as the other remains. Where the Grave Digger was concerned, a good portion of its body remained buried beneath the dirt... but part of its front half remained visible, towering over the other bodies. If she had to guess, the explosion had blown apart at least a quarter of its massive bulk from within.
More than enough, it seemed.
It didn't even twitch... it was dead beyond any shadow of a doubt. She knew it. They both did... but it was still taking her time to register it. Come to terms with it. It seemed too good to be true. Jill looked over the battlefield... all the shell casings glinting in the light of the remaining light posts. All the footsteps through the muck. The blood and various bodies and remains. The raging fires around the cemetery sink hole. All the damage to the area and woods... hell, to most of the park that the seismic activity had done. The tunneling. Somehow, they had been pulled out of the hell of Raccoon City, and down into one beneath the earth, and survived it. That was all their time in Raccoon City was amounting to, one hell after another. The streets. The precinct. The alleys. The train station. The train. The clock tower. Jill closed her eyes for a moment, simply feeling the rain wash down her sore, bruised, swelling features... savoring the moment as best she could. Making the most of the feeling of victory. But it proved just a touch premature. She heard a sound, then, further down the sink hole, and her eyes opened... to find various spot of dirt giving wear, tearing loose... and familiar mutations bursting through and falling into the mud. Long, snake-like beings squirming and mewling... while the larger shapes buzzed... each of them that emerged coated in mud the rain was gradually washing away... digging themselves up from the collapsed hive below the graveyard. Jill's heart seized in her chest as the mutations burst free, and turned their sights on the two survivors standing above and overlooking the pit below.
"No! Not again! How can there be more?!"
"Hive remnants, Valentine. Latecomers. Little more. Nothing we can't clean up. Time to finish this."
HUNK's steely, solid voice assured her as he rose the submachine gun again, and with it the laser sight, settling it on one of the two headed nest guardians trying to scramble up through the muck towards them. Slowed inexorably by nature, as it had been before. He opened up on it with a burst, blowing one of its heads off and setting its body aflame, and the gunfire and its buzzing jolted her back. His unshakable confidence and strength that she latched on to, at his side. Even in the false calm, believing the battle was over, HUNK adapted rapidly to the sudden final attack... and she could do no less than that herself. She forced aside her shock, recovered and activated the electronic safety mechanism on the Mine Thrower, the green light on it turning red as it locked up with a mechanical sound. Slinging it rapidly she rose her pistols from their holsters and picked her own targets, joining in with him in mopping up the latecomers to the fray. Blasting down several of the sliding worms, tearing them apart while he targeted the nest guardians, green gore spraying everywhere from their bodies. Sure enough, there weren't nearly as many of them as there had been in their previous surfacing... but even one of them was too many. All it would take was one, if they weren't careful. Their overlapping fields of fire covered each other steadily as they worked to make each shot count. The last of the attackers fell twitching and bullet ridden around the sink hole and at the base of the embankment, unable to reach the survivors in time, despite one last effort. When the time came, his low, rock solid voice emerged from the mask again, red laser sight sweeping the devastation for any more... before the agent rendered the verdict of his assessment.
"Objective completed."
At last, no more of the sliding worms or mutated fleas emerged from the soil, their fresh corpses joining the rest down there in the mass grave, like the one who had spun their hive, their green fluids spilling and running all over the graveyard, into the rain puddles and blood stained muck. Jill's eyes swept the embankment... where also mercifully no more infected had emerged from the woods... yet, at least. Only now did they lower their weapons again... and Jill was certain the battle was over at last. Though regardless she maintained her grip on the pistols, and wasn't about to lower her guard again altogether. She looked silently to HUNK, who appeared quite satisfied himself... rigid posture relaxing gradually, along with the grip on his submachine gun. The battle of the cemetery was finished... they had won it... or at least survived it. But there was one other matter... more pressing to Jill than either the dead Grave Digger, or her own brooding thoughts on the horrific battle they had just endured. A growing sense of dread churned in her stomach as it came back to her, and her eyes swiveled more quickly over the pile of bodies and rubble. His body, mercifully, was not visible among the others. Yet he remained absent. She could scarcely see beyond the pile, but there was still hope. Her eyes returned to HUNK and she turned slightly towards him, drawing the gaze of his red cracked and intact lenses to her again, and her ruined, marred visage reflected back at herself in them.
"Carlos... we have to find him..."
"Yes. We will. This way."
HUNK nodded at once reassuringly and gestured silently in the direction of the pathway, beyond the pile of smoking remains... and he took the lead, moving down the path. With Jill remaining in close pursuit, limping after him with all she had. As they moved she holstered the Samurai Edge and Matilda again, taking up the Mine Thrower in both hands and deactivating the mechanical safety on it. It whirred as it responded, the red light turning green as it unlocked. When they reached the majority of the infected bodies and the crater, he gave them and the puddle a wide birth, along with the smoking, still burning remains of the Pale Thing. The U.S.S. Agent navigated them around the debris piles of the cemetery. Around the fallen cast iron light posts. Jill's boots passed over it all, as she climbed, each step painful, but reminding her she was alive. They moved around the pile of bodies and back on to the path beyond it, where before Carlos had stood. Drawing a low breath, Jill continued to follow after HUNK, stepping around the subsequent bend... until HUNK stopped in front of her, and she moved back up to his side. Looking forward to see what he saw just ahead of their position.
"There he is."
A single solitary body lay face down in the middle of the pathway, among the stone, mud and grime, next to a broken off section of metal fencing that rested against the rocky outcropping and bushes of the embankment. Its soaked uniform was unmistakable... even amid all the dirt and stains of the surroundings. For one terrible moment, she thought he was dead, with the stillness with which he lay. The rain pouring down the back of his armored vest, cleaning the mud off it and revealing the red and white U.B.C.S. Umbrella logo residing upon it, with the crossing swords over a shield. Then, he drew in a gasping breath and moved, rolling over on to his back, rifle in both hands, and revealing his wild, disheveled features. His brown eyes blinked rapidly, chest rising and falling, seemingly startled by his surroundings... or more likely, to find himself still alive in them. Gradually, he seemed to recollect part of himself enough to spot them, and recognize them standing where they were, close by and looming. His voice spoke up at last, a bit dazed and distant, not quite there with the rest of them.
"Jill... HUNK... you're both still here... did we... did we do it? Is it really dead? Did we... make it?"
"We did, Corporal. On your feet. It's time to move out."
"Carlos...", Jill murmured his name quietly with relief at hearing him again, feeling a smile touched her pained face once more. She took a few steps forward, past HUNK, and towards the young man, standing over him. He rose up off his back at last and sat up with a great deal of exertion, looking back up at her, and then away from her. Still visibly trying to get his bearings, figure out what had just happened. Tentatively, she offered a hand down to him, and a faint reassuring smile to match her voice. "It's over. We did it. Here... it's too damn cold to be sitting in the mud. Let me help you...-"
"Piss off!", Carlos snapped suddenly, his expression contorting with fury to match his harsh tone. Seemingly remembering himself... where he was and all that had happened. He slapped away Jill's hand roughly, violently denying her presence. Her offer. Her burnt hand stung painfully at the hit, making her wince... but she ignored the throbbing, looking back down at him with the same concern. Mixed now with a deepening, quiet sadness. Regret. He rolled over in the dirt on his side, moving away from them. Flopping uselessly in the mud, but spitting out his words just as angrily. "I don't need your goddamn help or pity! I don't need it! It's all more fucking bullshit anyways! I survived for days without either of you! Everything went even more to shit from the moment you both turned up! You make everything worse! Get back!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Corporal. Breath. You have suffered an emotional shock."
"No fucking shit, Robocop! Some of us don't do... that... every day! You just... you shut the hell up, man... stay where you are... as far away from me as... as..."
Carlos trailed off gradually, running out of energy to even speak. Jill stood back with HUNK... giving the Corporal his space, slowly lowering her throbbing hand and drawing a breath, the hand joining her other in holding the Mine Thrower. For a moment, she wanted to speak... feeling a sense of hurt by his reaction. But knowing it was nowhere near the level they had hurt him. She deserved worse. She held her tongue, and watched guiltily as the grime stained young man in the wet, green and black U.B.C.S. uniform and battered armor groaned painfully and stood back up to his stained, scuffed combat boots. He looked sick, groggy and wild eyed... looking around the cemetery, and at them... and at the pile of bodies behind them. At the Grave Digger, what was left of it. Not really seeing or hearing them any longer. For a moment she thought he might black out, fall over on the ground again. Instead, managing to retain his shaky balance, turning his head away from them again, he promptly and loudly threw up all over the muddy ground, his body shaking and heaving as he retched. Retching and cursing all the while, gasping for air all the while.
"Oh God..."
It was undoubtedly a mixture of the horror and stress he'd been subjected to... it was the sane response of his body and mind coming to terms with what he'd just survived. To say nothing of how horrible the graveyard must have smelled. Shaking on the spot, tears streamed out of his eyes and mucus from his nose, along with the rain down his face as he puked what seemed the contents of his body. At last, when he finished retching, a shaky hand slung his rifle over his shoulder, and the other went for the canteen on his belt. Unscrewing it, he took a deep drink from the contents, breathing and gasping hard, closing his eyes. As they looked on, Jill quite helplessly, wanting to help him but unable to, Carlos slowly calmed himself down. He looked upward into the sky and opened his eyes, letting the cold rain wash over his feverish, disheveled, dirt stained face, with assorted bruised and cuts. Feverish. The pouring rain gradually cleaning him up and gradually cooling him enough. Finally, he screwed back on the cap of the canteen and tucked it away, taking the rifle up in both hands again. At last, he seemed to recognize he had to acknowledge them again... that they would not be the first to speak.
"Get the hell away from me...", He finally choked out again, tone cold, quiet and deadened. As disheveled as he looked. There was no hatred or contempt in his eyes any longer, nor his voice. There was nothing left at all, save an ancient exhaustion. As he had looked like the young man he was when he had laughed and smiled earlier, he looked older than his years again. He was finished with them for that moment. Finished with being used. "Just stay the hell away from me. From now on. Both of you. Keep your distance. I'm not your tool or bait anymore. Don't think I've... forgotten about that fucking virus... just because we... just because... I need... time to think..."
Neither HUNK nor Jill spoke a word, or made a sound. They simply peered back at him, together. It seemed answer enough for Carlos. The young man nodded to himself, looked over the battlefield to the dead Grave Digger and spat hatefully in its direction. Then he turned back down to the winding corner of the path, and began to limp tiredly off towards it, as though they did not exist. Muttering under his breath all the while. This time, Jill did not look at HUNK... nor did she feel his gaze. She merely followed after Carlos, keeping back, closer to the agent. Carlos led them back to the well... or rather, part of it. The dirt that had been around it, most of it, had collapsed with the sinking of the cemetery. The brick that traveled down in the earth, that had been comprising the well was revealed amid the rocky outcropping. A number of the bricks were broken off, revealing a gaping hole in the well, and the subsequent ladder within it. It would be a shorter climb down to the sewers, as such. A pile of rocks was around it on each side... and would have made it a challenge to climb up and over to the well, but fortunately a section of collapsed gate had also fallen in front of the well, giving them an easier means of access up the embankment to the entrance.
Carlos was already slinging his rifle and climbing up and over it, to the well and reaching the ladder inside. He looked down on them from above as they stood together at the base of the path, next to the fallen gate. He stared at them coldly, both hands moving to the ladder, and they watched as his body and head descended out of sight, back down to the sewers beneath the park fountain. They could hear the patter of his boots on the rungs of the ladder... and when he reached the bottom, silence for a moment. Followed by a faint echoing of hissing, a sudden roar of automatic fire, and unmistakable cursing. Jill moved up first, climbed quickly over the fence and up to the well, but by the time she reached the ladder, activating the safety and slinging her Mine Thrower... the gunfire had ceased with nearly every other sound. Apart from the echoing of boots tapping over metal and sloshing through water, moving away. Whatever it was... it had been dealt with, and Carlos was fine. No... he wasn't fine... he was a hell of a ways from that... but like them, they were alive. If only nominally so, at this point. It was the only silver lining to any of this.
"There's nothing else we can do here. Let's just get the hell out of this graveyard...", Jill muttered under her breath, slowly shaking her head. And added something more instinctively, even realizing they were going to another cemetery in the form of the incineration plant. Its halls likely choked with the rotting dead... immobile corpses, or otherwise. And much worse waiting for them there. "Never want to see one again. Nikolai's still out there... we need to go deal with him. Get out of the city. Before it's too late."
"Nikolai and escape can wait. Hold up, Valentine."
"What's the...-"
The U.S.S. Agent appeared suddenly from behind her, next to the well... he grasped her left, pale arm, bringing it closer under the light of his vest mounted flashlight. To the wound standing out on it, the blood still trickling... of course, Jill remembered. She had somehow forgotten about it in the chaos. The blood and water continued trickling along her arm, still falling off it... a deep cut, in spite of her earlier quick spraying of it. Still it stung. She heard some sounds then, and watched as HUNK reached around behind himself into his medical bag, slipping out a familiar bottle. She felt the cold shock as he turned the nozzle on the wound and sprayed along it, the jet of cold, stinging mist touching her. Tucking the bottle away, he retrieved a familiar, intimidating, sidearm looking device from the bag... and she remembered what it was. The surgical stapling gun... ready to add more staples to her body rapidly collecting them. He braced her arm with the other hand, keeping it still and to stop the shaking in her hand.
She looked back into his lenses as he settled it over the wound... and he didn't pull the trigger until she had braced herself, and gave the nod of consent. There was a quick sting of pain that made her hiss when he did so... but it was over much quicker than the leg staples had been, requiring fewer. When he was finished, he tucked the surgical device into his medical bag, rapidly withdrew the spray again and added another coating to the sealed flesh. Then after tucking it away again, he withdrew more red and green herbs in the palm of his glove, gently pressing them into place over the wound, coating it against the stickiness. Completing that, he retrieved a roll of bandages from the bag and wrapped it around the wound, around her arm, hiding it from view, securing it firmly. Satisfied, he tucked away the rest of the roll and closed up his medical bag, while she inspected his impressive work. Feeling another grateful smile form on her throbbing, bruised, swelling face. Looking back in those watchful red lenses.
"Hands... might not have been trained to heal... but you're certainly learning.", She assured him... moving closer and standing up on his boots again, as she had at the courtyard. Leaning in and pressing a tender kiss against the side of his rain soaked dark gas mask, careful not to press her broken nose against it, before drawing back again to look into his lenses. Squeezing his gloved hand. "Thank you. Let's get out of here, HUNK... together. As far away from this nightmare as possible."
"After you, Jill. I... require a moment. Have another call to make."
A low, weary tone murmured in return from behind that mask. She knew he had no desire to call them... his contacts, to update them... but it was a necessity of his duty. He didn't pretend to care for it, now. Didn't hide as much as he did at the start. She offered him a bruised, grim smile of sympathy, her arms wrapping around his armored body, pressing in closely to speak quietly to him. She felt his hand settle on her back again, though knew he was remaining alert, eyes on their surroundings while hers weren't.
"Always another call to make for you, isn't there? Another objective. For Umbrella."
"My world. There is nothing else for me. Complicated."
"I noticed. Well... there is me, now. For whatever I'm worth. What was that talk about Umbrella's satellites? They watched the battle... how long have they been watching you? Us? How many of them are watching? Who?"
"I do not know the full answer to that. Many of them are likely busy handling other matters, not watching as we speak... but I expect they'll all see the existing footage before long, whatever it comprises of. I know that top ranking company officials have access to the satellite network. The Inner Circle. The Board of Directors. The U.I.D. As well as the Leviathan. U.S.S. Command. My support team. My benefactor."
"All of them spying on you. Watching all of this play out... like it's some kind of sick show. With you as their star. Sure your real name isn't Truman?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Starting to sound like Carlos. Anyways... I imagine Spencer is getting a real kick out of all this, watching from whatever mansion he's held up in. Disgusting old bastard."
"Yes."
"Would that they could all just leave you the hell alone, for awhile. Forever."
"That is a dream I've had... Jill. One of the many..."
There was something wistful in his low, muffled tone through the mask... lowering his head slightly, trailing off after his admission, and not elaborating further. She wished he would... but did not pry. He was opening up at the pace he required. She could not rush him. Could not try to control him... as others did. As Umbrella did. There were some things he had to do himself... decide for himself... all she could do was support him. Her gloved fingers rose and stroked his mask gently... and she nodded at last, reluctantly stepping down off his boots and drawing backwards to the well. Letting her agent go, and him her, for the moment. HUNK moved back down the embankment slightly, turning in the direction of the battlefield, away from her. When she reached it, Jill's hands touched the rungs on the ladder and she took one final glance from overlooking the collapsed cemetery. The cabin was still on fire, and falling apart entirely... some of the trees were aflame, spreading... the cemetery was lined with bodies of all kinds... and even at the distance she was at, the towering remains of the Grave Digger in the pit dominated the scene. All of the carnage was alight by the ambient lighting of the cast iron light posts... all vividly eerie, even in the rain. Especially in the rain. There was a steadily growing mist as well, in the woods... she couldn't tell if it was natural, or all the smoke. A fog born of war. But her final sight of the graveyard was not of the worm... nor the muck and chaos of the battlefield. It was the dark, silent figure standing at the base of the embankment below the well. The glowing red lenses in the light of one of the nearby posts on the winding graveyard path. There were eyes behind those lenses that knew much and revealed little. But... she could tell something different about him, then... that was more obvious than before.
The Grim Reaper, Nikolai had called him. Death. He didn't look like that anymore.
He no longer stood up tall like a statue. No longer looked like the immovable force he'd seemed for so long, moving on that battlefield. Nor at attention like a commander of men. Now that he didn't know she was still watching him, he slouched slightly... but even slightly for him said enough. His arm holding his submachine gun was down at his side, and he finally looked every bit as tired as she felt. The guard slipping. He was just an introverted man again, then... one visibly in pain. Physical... and likely otherwise. He didn't have to put on the front that he did around them. Erect the barriers. Wear an image of invincibility. He was on his radio again, a slackened hand risen to his mask... his muffled tone audible, but she couldn't make out the words. Whether he was reporting his kill, progress, or more company secrets with his equally faceless and shadowy allies, benefactors and masters... she wasn't certain. Whatever it was, she didn't particularly care in that moment, as she might another time. She didn't care about much of anything. She felt old... and not in a pleasant way, if there was one. Old in her bones... old in spirit. Though she did still care deeply about him, feel concern for him, even through her exhaustion. Part of her wanted to go to him... join him, watch over him... but she knew he needed his privacy. And knew better than to violate it... as Umbrella did. Especially now. She watched him look away from the battlefield below... instead raising his head and looking up to the storm filled skies, the rain pouring down his mask and battle scarred and dented helmet. Looking back and forth over the skies. As though he were not a hardened U.S.S. Agent... but a lost boy searching for something in particular watching him up there. As though he were searching for someone.
Maybe he was.
Jill took that image of him with her, as she descended the ladder to the sewers, boots tapping against them, moving on to the next nightmare that awaited them. His steely voice followed her down the ladder, then... calm... and weary. As tired as he had looked, standing over the battlefield. These words spoken a bit louder, loud enough at least for her to hear them over the rain.
"Copy that, NIGHTHAWK. Tell them we made it. The Umbrella satellite feed is correct. It's dead. Area secure. Will update you further soon. We're en route to the suspension bridge now. To the Dead Factory."
I hope you all enjoyed that as much as I did writing it and as much as Umbrella did watching it lol. You know Spencer jumped out of his wheelchair and slippers when he saw that motherfucker blow up. Wish I could post GIF reactions from each of the watching Umbrella characters, alas. Hope that I accomplished something the RE 3 remake failed at utterly, refused to even attempt, showed you all what might have been. A proper giant monster battle that wasn't the Nemesis. I wanted to do the Grave Digger's untapped potential some justice... as well as some justice to my interpretation of the Pale Heads. Anyways, the journey continues, and further danger awaits on it. Stay tuned ;).
