October 1st, 1998.
"So long, Raccoon City."
Jill Valentine could only look on at the mushroom cloud that signaled Raccoon City had been reduced to ash, her home for the past 2 years. The memories, the nightmares, all gone, victims of Umbrella's bioweapon, the T-Virus. How many people had died because of it? Hundreds? Thousands?
"Fucking hell..."
Jill was interrupted from her thoughts by her newfound friend, Carlos Oliveira, muttering to himself. The only other survivor of the Raccoon City outbreak. Hell, he might've been the only one had he not risked his life just to save her time after time. Did she deserve it compared to the countless other lives? She didn't think so. However, that didn't stop him from carrying her all the way to the hospital and fighting off the undead creatures that craved flesh. She could never repay him for that.
"You okay supercop?" He asked in that caring voice that sent shivers down her spine.
"Just barely." She replied as she eyed her bandaged arm where that bastard, the Nemesis had pricked her. The ugly son of a bitch thought he could get a one up on her, until Carlos came along.
"Well hey, that's one thing we got in common." Carlos grunted as he awkwardly shifted in his seat, as to not cause even more strain on the wound from Jill's gunshot.
"Where did you even learn to fly a helicopter?"
"Heh, picked up a few things college."
"Seriously?" she inquired.
"Nah, I'm fucking with you. I learned it back home, in Colombia." He chuckled.
"Military?"
"Not exactly." He deflected as his stared off into the vast tree line they flew over.
"Ah. Okay." Jill figured she should leave it at that. If talking about the Arklay incident taught her anything, its that its best not to pry on these types of situations. She had already painted a big ass target on her back these past few months, she didn't need to add another enemy to that list.
So they sat in silence for the next hour, just letting the sound of rotors spinning ease them the best it could. In a fucked up sense, the sounds chaos and violence of Raccoon City had become second nature to them already, keeping them on their feet. The silence scared them.
"Where do we go from here?" Jill whispered to herself, evaluating everything that had happened. Umbrella needed to answer for this, the deaths, the monsters, the crimes against humanity. Barry and Rebecca were in Canada for the time being, and Chris, already half cocked, had bailed on them for their European HQ. Despite being separated, they all swore to topple Umbrella's empire, no matter what.
"I dunno," Carlos responded, "but for now, we need to stay off the radar as best as we can. Find a place to get our bearings."
"You have a place we can stay?" Jill carefully set herself down on the co-pilot's seat.
"Unfortunately, no. My apartment is all the way in New York." Carlos confessed as he took a heavy sigh.
"New York."
"Mhmm. I spent most of my teens there with some family. After Umbrella hired me, I rented a place there so I can visit them in between missions."
"Cute." Jill joked.
"Thanks. Although, I don't think they would appreciate seeing me again anyways.
"Bad terms?"
"Pretty awful ones."
"I'm sorry." She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be. The more I think about it, I realize I fucked up bad." He waved her off as he peered over the horizon.
"I recognize that road. We're a few miles out from a small town with a place to stay." Jill pointed out to Carlos.
"Good. We need to get some medical supplies for you. I doubt we can survive on green and red herbs." Carlos jested
"I'm fine."
"Dude, you look like shit. You need to get your wounds checked."
"And you?"
"I didn't go through the absolute hell that you endured Jill." He said softly as he gave her a thorough inspection. The both of them were caked in dirt, blood, and whatever disgusting fluids the creatures the fought released. Jill was covered in particularly nasty cuts and bruises that honestly almost made Carlos gag.
"Carlos, I fucking shot you."
"Still doesn't compare to what you've been through. I'll make it."
"Those Hunter wounds on your shoulder disagree with your assessment."
Carlos dragged his free hand across his face and groaned.
"Once we fix you up, I'll get myself cleaned up. Deal?" He stuck out his hand.
"Deal."
After ditching the helicopter they escaped in, they made their way into town, drawing suspicious looks from the town inhabitants. However, Carlos and Jill ignored them and made their way to a nearby convenience store to wash as much dirt and grime as they could off of them.
"After you." Carlos opened the door and smiled.
"Here I was thinking chivalry was dead." Jill chuckled as she closed the door to the dinky restroom on him.
Jill walked up to the sink and turned on the water, before wetting a paper towel and cleaning her face as best as she could. When she finally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she didn't know what stared back at her. This wasn't Jill Valentine, this was some husk left in her place. The Jill she remembered was the lively, pop singing, badass of S.T.A.R.S.. The one that reveled in the nicknames her colleagues gave her, or defended the newbie Rebecca from the teasing of her fellow S.T.A.R.S members. Instead, all that remained to her was a hardened, scarred soul, afraid if the shadows even moved.
'It could have been anyone else to survive... instead it was your sorry ass.' She insulted as she stared into the mirror, grabbing the sink hard enough that her knuckles were turning white. Her vision began to blur as she held back tears, trying her hardest not to have a breakdown in a shitstain restroom.
'Carlos is out there dumbass! The last thing he needs is worrying about some stupid fucking cop, get a grip!' She screamed at herself as she held back a sob, before ripping off another piece of the paper towel and dabbing away her tears.
Now was no time to break.
After a few minutes, she opened the door with a false smirk and gestured into the restroom.
"Have at her."
"Thank god. I've had to take a leak for the past hour." He rushed into the restroom. Jill grinned at the sight of a grown man grabbing his pecker, trying not to pee himself like a kid.
He really was something else.
...
Carlos washed his hand maybe twelve times before he even touched his faced. He was a bit of a germaphobe in a past life, but he learned to deal with it during his time a merc for both Colombia's communist militia, and his short stint as a Umbrella grunt.
He was half tempted to shower himself in the restroom, but he had a suspicious feeling that the last time this place was cleaned was the first quarter that year, so he refrained for now.
One he finished, he checked himself out in the mirror. He had bags under his eyes and he looked like a looked like a hobo that somehow managed to rob a solider. In other words, he looked like shit.
' If only mama could see her son now...' He scolded as his head hung, looking at the moldy tiles of the floor.
' She'd be ashamed of you, you moronic fuck. Can't believe you let yourself stoop this low.'
"Amen." He muttered.
'It's no wonder they won't talk to you anymore, you've always been the black sheep. They say right, you go left. They say get a education, you become a gang banging asshole. They say not to become your papa, you desecrate his memory by joining his murder's faction.' His inner thought chastised him further as he grabbed his head.
'Who knows, maybe they'll find you gutted in a trench just like they found him. Seems fitting, doesn't it you pathetic fuck?' They pressed on.
"Please stop..." he groaned as he fell to his knees, trying to push the thoughts away. Not now. This wasn't the place to have another anxiety episode, some crappy ass restroom in the middle of bumfuck Ohio. He could feel tears begin to well in his eyes as he failed to fight them back, the floodgates almost opening.
Then, he thought of Jill. She was outside the room, probably guarding him with her life in case anyone tried them. The same woman who stared death in the face time after time and told it to go fuck itself, who fought off droves of zombies just so the civilians of Raccoon City could try to get away from the hellhole. What would she think of him falling apart in some gross restroom?
'She'd call you a pussy.' Tyrell berated him.
"What the fuck?" Carlos whispered.
'Jill's out there watching your ass while you are in here bitching and moaning. Get out there and show her that saving you meant something.'
Carlos couldn't argue with that. Jill went through both Raccoon and the Mansion incident he read about in the S.T.A.R.S office. If anyone deserved to let it all out, it was her. So with that, Carlos picked himself up and exited out the restroom.
"Clean up well?" She backed off the wall she was leaning on.
"Kind of. I'll feel much better when we get an actual shower."
Normally, the sight of a crusty ass motel would cause most people to groan, but for Jill and Carlos, it was like a luxury hotel. It was a top floor room that came with a bed, a couch, a restroom, and cable TV. All the essentials.
"Home sweet home." Carlos said as he walked into the motel room and stepped aside for Jill. Jill took in her surroundings as Carlos set down the bag carrying what he bought from a local Wal-Mart a few hours ago. First Aid, clothes, soap, and some much needed snacks like beer and assorted chips. The trip into town was relatively uneventful, save for Carlos constantly checking over his shoulder while emptying what he had left in his bank account for cash.
"At this point, anything other than RC feels like a five star hotel." Jill countered.
"Just wait until you test the bed, reality will set in then." Carlos quipped as he took out the First Aid box.
"You know how to stitch a wound up?" She asked him.
"I can close it. I can't guarantee it won't come out looking like a Picasso piece though."
"Sounds good enough to me." She shrugged.
"Take a shower first. You smell horrible." He responded, taking out some of the shampoo and body soap he picked up.
"Me? You still have some zombie guts and dirt on you."
"I didn't wade through the sewers and a spider nest." Carlos retorted. He did have a point.
"Fuck you." She remarked snidely as she took what he gave her. The soap, clothes they picked out, and a towel cause lord knows what other people did with the towels here.
"..."
"What?" Carlos stopped what he was doing when he heard Jill go silent.
"Cherry Blossom soap? Rose Oil shampoo?" Jill held up the cleaning products.
"...They were the best smelling ones I could find."
"If I find AXE in there, I'm taking those." She threatened.
"Are you kidding? I'm going out there smelling like cherry blossoms, it'll be dope." Carlos quipped. Jill rolled her eyes, but still smiled as she walked into the bathroom and stripped her clothes carefully.
Jill took a heavy breath as she assessed the damage. She had nasty bruises forming on her abdomen and her calves, numerous cuts littering her arms and face. On the bright side, her Nemesis prick was beginning to return to normal.
"Motherfucker..." she whispered as she opened the shower curtains and cranked up the hot water. When it reached the right temperature, she stepped in and let the hot water drown her in a feeling so amazing, her knees almost buckled and gave out. She lathered her hair and body while whistling a tune, almost as if everything had returned to normal. Just like the nights where she and the rest of the team would go to J's Bar and shoot the shit, not a care in the world.
But those days, much like Raccoon City, were gone.
After a while, she turned the knob off and dried herself off, carefully navigating over her wounds. Afterwards, she slowly and awkwardly put on a t-shirt a size too big and sweapants before stepping out of the bathroom. Carlos stopped looking out of the blinds to shift his attention to her, and smiled.
"See? You're looking like a million bucks already." He complimented warmly.
"Well, I'm feeling like a million bucks that got thrown in a shredder.
"Yeah, I don't think Chery Blossom scented soap can cure that."
Jill chuckled as Carlos backed away from the blinds as and grabbed the First Aid box. Opening it up, he pulled out the antiseptic, a cloth, gauze, and a stitching kit.
"You don't want to shower first?
"I can manage. After I'm done with you, I'll shower and you can help me."
"Okay." She replied solemnly.
"This may sting a bit." He warned her as he uncapped the antiseptic and poured some onto a cloth. He gently undid Jill's bandage and hesitated as he neared one of her wounds. Carlos looked towards Jill as he met her blue eyes, nodding for him to continue. He felt a blush creep on his face as he placed the cloth on her wound, eliciting a sharp gasp from Jill.
"Sorry."
"It's cool."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Carlos made sure to be extra gentile with Jill, dabbing at her cuts and bruises while she inhaled deep every time he pressed too hard, with him apologizing nonstop. When he was done with that, he pulled out the stiches and threaded the needle with some help from Jill. Once that was settled, he began sealing her cuts in relative quiet.
"Did you see anything interesting?" Jill's voice cut through the silence.
"What's up?"
"Anything happen when I was in the shower?"
"Oh. Only thing I saw that was fishy was a couple on the other side of the complex." He responded as he finished on a cut.
"A couple?"
"Yep. They looked like hell too. A cop, his chick and their kid."
"You think they survived Raccoon too?" She pondered.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did."
Jill didn't know what to make of this. More survivors? Did they see what they saw? How did they get out of the city? All of this was giving her a headache.
"Owwww..." she groaned.
"Like I said, not my specialty." Carlos apologized as he finished stitching her last wound.
"Not that." She rubbed her temple as the stress got to her.
"Should we try talking to them? See if they got out of dodge like us?"
"For now, let's just keep it to ourselves. Last thing we need is spooking someone to the authorities." Jill rotated her arm to alleviate some of the stiffness. She stretched and heard a series of pops come from her back, relief washing over her.
"Yeah, you right." Carlos muttered as he set the kit on the nightstand, exchanging it for a set of clothes he laid on it. He grabbed the TV remote from it and tossed it to Jill, who caught it in her left hand without even looking.
"It's almost 6 P.M., the news has to be talking about it." Carlos remarked, opening the bathroom door and closing it once he was in. Once Jill heard the shower head spray water, she powered the TV on and flipped through the channels until she landed on local news station.
"...one source claims that a nearby power plant was overloaded and exploded, releasing its radiation onto the city. Whether or not this is due to the rioting engulfing the city for the past week, we are uncertain. Government officials are placing the blame on the Umbrella Corporation, claiming that the seedy organization had been tampering with the power plant and releasing small doses into the city's water supply. Umbrella USA's CEO has denied to comment on the situation." The reporter on the TV commented from what looked like a refugee camp.
'They have no idea what happened. Great. Fucking A.' Jill reflected as she stared at the ceiling. The government couldn't even come out and say that a viral outbreak, the likes of which have never been seen, had been unleashed on the population and had to be nuked to save everyone. Of course they had to cover their own asses before they could even think about helping the fucking civilians. Assholes.
"Covering up, that's reassuring." Jill sat up when Carlos interrupted her thoughts. He was wearing just his basketball shorts, bearing his scarred, fit body out for Jill to gawk at.
"Yup, can't have people realizing we aren't abiding the Geneva Convention." She shot back, wincing at her sore body.
"Such bullshit. If we try to get the truth out, they'll think we're a bunch of wack jobs."
"Or they send some sort of Black Ops team to silence before we can squeal." She let out a dark laugh.
"Damn, that's grim as fuck."
"It's the truth."
"Truth fucking sucks." Carlos stated as he sat next to her.
"Tell me about it." She muttered as she switched the channel to something less depressing, anything really. She shifted her attention to her right and laid her eyes on the First Aid kit. Tapping Carlos on the shoulder, she gestured to it and Carlos gave out a heavy sigh, presenting her with his back.
Jill took in the numerous scars adorning his back. A plethora of cuts, a few bullet wounds, some burns, and a nasty looking stab wound. Whatever Carlos did before Umbrella sure as shit wasn't pretty.
"Um, Jill? You okay?" He barely whispered. Jill snapped back to reality, and felt like a bitch for staring at something that would upset him.
"Yeah. I-I'm sorry man. I didn't mean to-"
"It's in the past. I wanna leave it at that." He stated, head hanging low in shame. Jill shut herself up and began cleaning Carlos's wound, being careful as too not cause him too much discomfort. Once that was done, she began stitching his wounds, doing her best to be precise and still.
"Alright, I'm done." She lightly tapped his shoulder, signaling that she had finished. Carlos grunted out a thanks, pulling his shirt over his head and leaning against the headrest of the bed.
"Man, your a natural compared to me."
"You did good too. It was more Van Gogh than Picasso, so that nice." She quipped.
"Heh, thanks. At least all that doodling in high school finally helped me."
"Beats actually learning."
"Amen." Carlos yawned as he stretched his legs. With how much he had been running, he didn't even realize how beat he was. Then again, he'd reckon what he and Jill had been through would rival any Navy SEAL's 'Hell Week'. He would like to see them make sense of it all.
"So..." Carlos began.
"So..." Jill returned, awkwardly shifting her feet.
"Zombies. That was nuts." He stated.
"That's putting it mildly." Jill replied humorlessly.
"I'd say something worse, but I don't think I even have the energy to swear anymore."
"Can't argue with that. It's a miracle I can even form a coherent sentence." They both chuckled.
"Same. I just wish I could hibernate until January."
"Me too. Unfortunately, reality calls."
"Shit, are we even sure reality exist anymore? I used to scare my primos with zombie movies when I was younger. Now, the both of us lived one out." Carlos stared at the ceiling with a intensity he didn't think he had anymore.
"Believe me, I wish this was all fake. But, we can't act like what occurred at RC was just some obscure movie set. We need to get to Umbrella and blow them to kingdom come, no matter what." Jill firmly claimed, the bold attitude that she held at the train station coming back to her.
"How? They have the backing of multiple governments, a whole private military, and probably more dirt on us than we know."
"We can't let that stop us. If we falter, its spitting on the memory of everyone who died this past week."
"We're just two people." Carlos sat up and turned to her.
"Sometimes, that's all you need." She shot back.
"I'm not sure I can anymore." Carlos muttered.
"Of course you can. You fought like hell to get here, surely some part of you wants justice for everything Umbrella did to you."
"Maybe. But the sensible part of me is telling me to stop digging my own grave deeper."
"Carlos..." Jill started. Carlos was one of the bravest men she knew, risking his skin countless times, for Jill and the vaccine. He had to seek some form of revenge, didn't he?
"I thought coming back to the States was going to be a clean slate for me, to begin again. Instead, I fucked it up like I always do. You'd think after all these years I would learn my lesson?" He let out a laugh devoid of any joy. So many times, he tried to make things work, only for him to just fuck himself even further.
"I abandoned my squad at RC just so Nikolai could feed them to the wolves. I got the intel that led my friends to their deaths back home. I called my family cowards for being tired of all the violence tearing our country apart, then ditched them. Every time I act, I just make things worse." Carlos bitterly confessed, years of anger and guilt flowing free from his heart. Jill didn't speak, knowing that venting was the only thing he could do right now.
"I'm starting to think I'm cursed." Carlos stated.
Jill felt an incredible sense of regret for prying this far. She knew what he was feeling right now, guilt, shame, depression. All the things she remembered struggling with after the Arklay incident that cost the lives of so many of her comrades. She thought she might overcome the nightmare her mind became, until Raccoon proceeded to bludgeon that notion with a rusty crowbar.
"So am I." Jill whispered back.
"You still have hope left."
"Hope for what? Umbrella slandered me and my friends as lunatics while they got to keep meddling in the city's affairs. They had me constantly under surveillance just so they can pick me off at the right time." she recalled.
"You're friends are still out there, waiting for you so you guys can topple Umbrella and expose them for what they are. I don't even have anyone left willing to go to my funeral." Carlos sank further into the bed, the weight of his sadness pulling him more and more into a vicious cycle he barely beat before.
"I would." Jill surprised him almost instantly.
"You don't have to bullshit just to make me feel better."
"Are you kidding? After all you've done for me, I'd have to be a idiot not to. Never has anyone gone to the lengths you have just to save me, some stupid cop to smart for her own good."
"You shouldn't downplay your deeds Jill. You're a fucking hero. I'm just a nobody." Carlos stated.
"Am I? I couldn't save my friends from getting mauled in that god forsaken mansion. My buddy Richard actually saved me from a giant fuckin' snake just so I can escape and sit in my apartment, wallowing in my own pity. Brad-" Jill stopped herself, else she may have fallen apart right there. She had been cruel to S.T.A.R.S pilot Brad Vickers for weeks after Arklay, giving him flak for abandoning them in the forest. It was only a few days before the outbreak that she had forgiven him, after all, he did spend that entire night searching for them.
"Brad actually came to warn me about that Nemesis creature. Somehow, he stayed strong and ran through the streets just to get me out of my apartment." Jill revealed to Carlos, who silently urged her to continue.
"We used to call him 'Chickenheart' in the office, since he always seemed to avoid conflict, yet, he still put his fear aside to get me out of there. We tried making it out together, but when I tried to find something to block the zombies from our path, he got bit. I tried to get him to follow me still, but he told me to leave him behind. I guess he thought he still needed to atone leaving us back in July." Jill stared blankly at the wall, reliving the terrible moment again in her mind.
"I'm sorry." He replied after a few seconds, knowing that he had met the poor bastard and put him out of his misery.
"He'd still be alive if I didn't try to play the part of the hero. If I had just held the door with him..." Jill felt her heartbeat quicken and her vision blurring.
"It's not on you Jill."
"But it is! No matter how much I try fan the flames, I just end up making a bigger fire than before!" She exclaimed, tears beginning to fall from her face.
"Stop Jill. Take a breath." Carlos warned her.
"How can I?! Eveything I do only hinders the innocent even more! I tried going to Irons and he threw us under the goddamn bus! I sat in my room while the city burned to the ground! I let Nikolai destroy the only salvation against that fucking virus! I-!"
"Jill!" Carlos shouted, stopping her breakdown. Carlos felt hurt by what he saw, the most courageous woman he knew was having a nervous breakdown in some crappy motel room, when she deserved much better.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for what they did to us. You have no fault in this situation. You were the only one willing to expose Umbrella for the T-Virus, the one who descended into the depths to find the vaccine. You're the best of us." He soothed her as he pulled her in, Jill burrying her face in his chest and sobbing. Carlos couldn't hold back any longer, fresh tears falling with reckless abandon for everything that happened.
The duo held each other for what seemed like an eternity, just taking comfort in each other's presence. A bond they never realize existed formed from the embers of a atrocity that scarred them forever, giving them a resolve that they could seek shelter in each other.
' I was stupid for thinking Carlos was like the rest of Umbrella.' Jill hugged him tighter when she choked out a ugly sob. He was the last glimmer of hope she had left in a world that constantly snuffed out the light out.
Eventually, she pulled away from him and rubbed her eyes dry. Carlos grabbed the tissue box from behind her and pulled two out, offering one to her. She gladly accepted it.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this."
"Dude, us crying was probably the sanest thing we've done since we got in that helicopter." He responded.
"Heh, no shit." She smiled back at him. Only Carlos could make a bad situation better. Glancing at the analogue clock above the TV, she saw the time read that it was already 7:48 at night. They'd been holding each other for almost a hour.
"It's getting late. We should hit the hay soon."
"Yeah, I can take the couch." Carlos tried to get up, but Jill pulled him back down.
"No, we can share the bed."
"Don't be crazy senorita. You need to-" Carlos tried to protest.
"I don't take up much space. The both of us need something actually suitable to sleep on if we're going to get better soon." She shot back with a look pleading him to lay beside her. Eventually, he sighed.
"Ok, have it your way."
Carlos lifted the bedsheet and got into bed next to her. She muttered a thank you, muting the TV so that they could hear what happened outside their room. Jill rolled onto her side to face Carlos, who already looked like he was falling asleep.
"Hey Carlos?"
"Yes?"
"I meant what I said earlier. I'd be the first person at your funeral if you passed, lord knows I owe it to you." She took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently.
"Thank you Jill. That means the world to me." He gave an infectious grin that Jill couldn't help but reciprocate.
"I'd give the best damn eulogy at yours Jill, anything less would be a disservice." Carlos admitted to her.
"Oh shut up." Jill lightly slapped his other arm.
"I mean it."
"Ok." She closed her eyes, chuckling at the thought of Carlos speaking at her funeral, embellishing her actions.
"Goodnight Supercop."
"G'night Carlos." She murmured as darkness finally took over and Jill could once again rest.
A/N: Would you look at that? Another story started when I can barely finish one, how responsible of me. I couldn't help it tho, after playing through RE3 Remake last year a few times, I got hooked on the notion of Jill and Carlos becoming a thing, the chemistry was top tier. After months of ideas flying through my I finally put them on the notepad and wrote something. I really wanted to put it out sooner, but 2020 sucked hard as fuck. More often than not, I barely felt motivated to do anything, but I managed to trudge through it. Nevertheless, fuck my rambling, I hope you enjoyed reading! I try to get the next chapter done as soon as I can!