Right! Thank you to Rock Solid, who gave me the idea for Leon to...errmm...make Nicholai go "boom!" Cheers!
S.T.A.R.S. Girl
Claire gasped. He'd kill them right now; all of them. "Why?!" she sputtered. "Who are you?" "What's the U.B.C.S. really for?" Brad asked, face pale and expressionless. Nicholai snorted and rolled his small, sharp eyes. "Much like the S.T.A.R.S. team you and Ms. Valentine were in, the U.B.C.S. was sent to get combat data. But," he chortled mirthlessly, "No one ever thought they'd be completely wiped out. Ah, yes...and it's YOUR turn now!" He brought his dark attentions back to the four of them.
But Jill wasn't listening, wasn't even paying attention. Carlos...a tool? Umbrella really did play with people, using them like rubber dolls and pulling at their rubber legs... Damn them! She was sick of people playing god, all around her! She took one step forward, and Nicholai immediately trained his Colt on her. The fury was something almost tangible, emanating from her ominously.
Claire drew in her breath as Nicholai quietly clicked back the hammer on his weapon, cold fire in his eyes. But he didn't have enough time; a loud crack rang out, the unmistakable discharge of a gun firing. Nicholai---slowly, it seemed to Claire, so slowly she thought that he would never hit the ground---fell forward, face a mask of surprise, not even anger in those flint eyes. He did hit the ground (much to her surprise), and Leon appeared in the space where he had been, standing behind him, with gun pointed at him and smoke sifting from it. His face was solemn, but not remorseful. "Leon!" she took a few almost-running jumps towards him and clutched at his arm. "Leon!" she repeated.
Nicholai began to writhe on the ground. Blood poured out the back of his trenchcoat, staining the grey graveyard grass. "You..." he said suddenly, surprising them all. Jill and Brad each took a step closer to him, closing the circle enclosing the dying operative. Sherry stood behind them all, face distorted in terror and shock.
"Bastards!" Nicholai spat, but voice bubbly now, frothy crimson liquid spilling from his gaping mouth. "He'll kill you...all of you..." "You mean Nemesis?" asked Jill. Claire jumped when she heard her friend's voice; no emotion at all, as cut-and-dried as spam. She shivered, wondering in the back of her mind what this place was doing to them. "He won't catch us," Valentine finished. "Ever."
Nicholai grinned through the blood gushing from his nose and mouth, a horrible sight to see. "I didn't say it would be Nemesis...someone else...." He coughed violently, body convulsing like a dog who'd been shot. Finally the spasm ceased. "I'm talking about somebody else...He's after you, all of you...Oliviera, Vickers, you, the brat, the wench and the pretty boy..." another coughing fit attacked him. Jill looked unimpressed, and Brad folded his arms across his chest. Claire stared at their faces. No emotion, somber but menacing all the same. "And also, you're other friend..."
Jill stared at him suddenly. "Other...?" her eyes widened and the darkness, which had held her composure together, vanished. She turned to Brad, dumbstruck. He had a similar expression of disbelief. "Who?" he asked. Nicholai smiled insanely at them, eyes wide and surely delirious now. "The Russian boy, who used to work at the freakshow. Do you remember him? The dogfaced boy....He reminds me of the other target." He grinned, and sank close to the ground, obviously at the end of his rope. The pallor of his skin faded, as did his clarity and voice. "Reminds me a lot..." He paused. "It's a beautiful morning." And then, even though his eyes were open, they didn't see the faces of the people around him.
There was a silence. Claire awkwardly let go of Leon's arm, trying to figure out how without seeming like she wanted to get away from him, but wondering if she should really be this close to him. Sherry tried very hard not to let out any of her building sobs. Jill ran a hand through her hair and stared at the body, and Brad whistled lowly. The silence went on.
And on. On some more.
More.
"Okay, this is stupid. I've gotta be the one to break this tension," Leon spoke up at last. "Well," said Jill quietly, "I was really just thinking. What did he mean...?" "He was illussional, after all," Brad said. "I don't think he knew what he meant either." He didn't sound convinced. "Whatever," Claire said, tugging again at her gnarled ponytail. "Leon---" she turned to him "---How'd you get here? And...where's Carlos??"
Leon scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable. "Well," he said unevenly, "I was getting ancy about you guys. We'd made it to some factory---abandoned, of course. I told him I would go and get you all, and we'd meet back there. Maybe it was stupid, to leave him there, but if I hadn't you'd all be dead, wouldn't you?" Claire nodded, and Jill smiled, a little sadly. "Yeah," she said in a very quiet voice. "Let's go, then." Leon pointed back the way he'd came. "There's a footpath," he explained quickly when he was greeted by confused looks. "Oh yeah," Brad said. "I remember this path. Leads out of the park, and beyond that...the chemical factory. Right." Jill nodded, thumb at the corner of her mouth, looking thoughtful with glazed eyes. And then they were going on ahead down the footpath.
Tangled and overgrown, spattered with suspicious red marks, but still clear, the footpath lead well ahead, into darkness not to be penetrated with the naked eye. Claire continually stumbled over weedy plants choking the side of the trail she shleped along, tripping and using her own momentum to regain her balance. The only ones not suffering from the miserable under-growths were Sherry, who was a nimble little girl and who's eyes had adjusted fine to the dark, and Brad, who had grown up in rural Ohio. Lucky them, Claire thought, and a sigh sped through her mind. And then she fell face down and smacked her head on a root.
The moon was very high now. Soon it would be daybreak... "GUYS!" she heard Brad call ahead of them, although his form was swallowed in shadows. "GUYS! COME HERE!" And Claire saw something happen to Jill; she changed, body stiffened, and then a horrible look of disbelief and sadness spread over her face, and she was rushing ahead, never-minding the weeds grabbing at her ankles. "NO!" she yelled. Claire looked at Leon as Jill disappeared into the same blackness that had seemingly eaten Brad. "What was that about....?" She asked him quietly, tugging at his hand. He raised an eyebrow at her. I'm acting like Sherry, thought Claire. Sherry. How was she?
The little girl was looking ahead at the path with glistening eyes, face blank like an empty canvas. She took one step forward, then ran, swift and gone from eyesight in a moment. Claire had no choice; she had to chase after them. Finally she could see the others again---Leon skidded to a stop behind her---and she saw Jill chewing Brad out, yet simultaneously hovering over him, worried. "Don't ever call like that again! I really thought you would be dead when I got here! Just like....like.....Are you really okay?" He reassured her, then pointed to a small ditch off the nature trail.
Looking down, Claire saw why. Two dead U.B.C.S. servicemen were lying, twisted into odd and surreal positions, greeted her gaze. Outfits stained with blood, bodies torn and pulled into oblivion, she could do nothing but gape. Leon stumbled down into the ditch beside them, and pointed to one's hand. He clasped an official document, which Leon tugged from his dead body. His fingers were curled and cooled around it, and only gave when they were individually pryed open. Leon held up the crinkled paper triumphantly, but no smile lighted his face. He staggered back up to the others, and handed the sheet to Brad.
"They're orders, I guess; they confirm what Nicholai said earlier. The other "supervisors," as he said, were also instructed to destroy the hospital and all the data stored inside it. Guess he beat them to it...didn't he say he'd shot a supervisor? I guess he had some reason for wanting to get ahead of the game like...that." He handed the plan to Jill, who clutched it like it was trying to get away from her. Brad glanced back the way they'd came, the place they'd left, where Nicholai's bloody body lay. "Umbrella is covering its tracks, and, for some reason, a lot of their supervisors are winding up dead," he said.
"Who want's to bet it's not just a cowinky-dink?" Leon spat sarcastically.
"I won't take that bet," Claire breathed, watching intently and without blinking as Jill pocketed the notes. "I would never take that bet."
"Let's keep going," Jill said, hands on her hips, a military air pervading her countenance. She nodded ahead. "To where Carlos is. I'm ready to leave." Sherry nodded vigorously.
The path seemed to get better from that point on, less dead plants trying to trip and kill them, it seemed. Brad and Sherry were still well ahead. Finally, the path opened up. The great grey shell of a factory greeted them, silent against the September sky, the cast of Raccoon burning in the backdrop. Jill groaned. Brad looked away for a second. Sherry gripped Claire's hand much too tightly. That was their city, in ruins, over there.
"Bridge," Sherry said quietly, pointing to a very rickety looking bridge. It led to the factory's front gate. Beneath the bridge was a sort of sewege moat, the gushing sound of it flashing in their ears. Jill stepped forward. "No," Claire caught her arm. "I'll go first." Jill stared at her for a second, then shook her head. Leon walked forward without warning and over to the bridge. "Hey!" Jill cried, struggling in Claire's grip. But Leon was already walking across the unsteady wreck of a crossing, which was swaying dangerously beneath him. Finally, he had reached the other side. He turned and grinned at them, giving them the V for Victory. Sherry was already ahead of the older survivors, scurrying across the bridge, which didn't seem to notice she was there. It didn't sway under her light weight, and she skipped and skidded across almost happily, the ghost of a smile brightening her face when she turned around to look at Claire, Brad and Jill.
"Go first," Jill said, pushing on Brad's back. "You're next lightest, I think." "No," he said, turning around. "Claire is. She's twenty pounds less than me." "Wow, and that will make like so much difference!" Jill said dryly. "Just didn't want you to get your facts wrong," he said in an equally sarcastic tone. "You're so stupid! You're like 'nuh uh, she's twenty freaking pounds lighter than me, yeppers!'" she said, shoving him playfully. "You suck at comebacks," he said, using his shoulder to shove her back. Claire decided to use some tactics which had always worked before. "Jill, stop flirting with Brad!" she cried loudly. They froze. She grinned at them, triumphant: embarrass them and they go into freeze-frame mode, than stop. "I'll go first," she finished, flashing the loser sign at them both. She put a foot onto the bridge.
"S.T.A.R.S."
It took her a second for her smile to fade, for her to both react and comprehend. She looked up and saw the stalker...Nemesis. "S.T.A.R.S." it rasped at her again, demanding.
"IT WANT'S US!" screamed Jill from behind her, but Claire couldn't understand the words, didn't even move, whole body frozen in indignation and terror. This thing, this Umbrella creation, it was disgusting, horrible, insane, twisted, a sick parody of all she knew was good and human and right...
The bridge fluctuated as Jill sprang onto it, Brad behind her, both coming around her side to hopelessly confront the creature. Claire snatched at Jill's arm. "LET'S JUMP!" she screamed, her thoughts and actions flooding her once again. She was herself, and it was time to react, as she knew she could. Jill didn't even nod, just tugged herself from Claire's hold with a surprising force, and shoved the younger girl over the ropes and into the murky moat below. Claire's expression was frozen as she plunged beyond the bridge, eyes set wideopen and mouth the slightest bit open, hair flying as the wind rushed up beside her in the opposite direction.
In a moment the water closed over her head, and it was cold and dark and a horrible greenish-grey, and a terrible fear seized her. In an instant she doubted her ability to swim back up, thinking wildly in that moment that she would sink further, beyond help, and drown, drown, the surface of the water far above her. But then her arms worked and she pulled herself over the breaking point, the now-freezing night air welcome to her lungs. Plunges and huge splashes beside her; Brad and Jill had flung themselves in.
She floated above-water, arms working as she looked up. Words burst from her mouth: "RUN, LEON! SHERRY, GO!" Her eyes stung with more than the water around her. She tore at her lower-lip with her teeth. But then there was an "mmph!" behind her. She turned and saw two ripples, and understood immediately that her friends had gone under to avoid the monstrosity's gaze. She sucked in air enough to fill a tanker, and followed their leads.
Cold. Her only sensation for a moment was cold, and then realised it was more than cold, it was "cold...water." Her arms flayed around wildly, and she was above-water again. She looked up, and saw that Nemesis had it's back to her, and also heard hurried and flurried running steps on gravelly grass---Leon and Sherry were running. Oh thank god, she thought. Not daring to talk out loud, afraid the monster would hear and understand.
She felt a clammy, wet hand seize her arm-she turned and saw Jill, swimming backwards and pulling her to the gaping opening of a sewer duct. "We can get in through there," she hissed, Brad already crouched in the opening. Claire nodded and swam for herself. She struggled to clamber up onto the cold metal and out of the soggy, unhealthy water. She looked up, about to say something. "At leas---" But she stopped when Jill hit Brad very hard on the neck. "Ow!" he said lowly. "What the hell?!" "Don't you push me under the water like that again!" she growled quietly. "I thought you were going to kill me!" "Oh, that's likely," Brad said in an off-handed tone. She hit his neck again. "You GUYS!" Claire said, the anger almost audible in her voice. "Let's just go...I'm so worried..." "Alright," Jill said, standing up as much as the low ceiling would allow. "Let us go on noble comrades," she said. They walked forward.
Jill tugged a door open and immediately whipped out her Magnum, aimed at a very large number of zombies. A quintet, it looked like. Claire choked back a scream. Brad took a step backward, in a ready-to-run position. Blam! Blam! Blam! Jill shot at the carrier's repeatedly, face stoneset with anger and frustation. "Just DIE, dammit!" she screamed at them, voice bouncing off the tunnel walls and back to her. Claire fired off a few handgun shots, and Brad was leaning against the door back, obviously a last defense. But suddenly the zombies were cut down remarkably quickly, moaning horribly and splaying out and falling forward, sickening smacking sounds accompanying this. Carlos stood behind them, a smirk-smile on his tanned face. He waved at them in salutations, and Jill's face changed. Her mouth opened in a surprised smile and her eyes opened, and she rushed over and hugged him. Brad grinned at him, and gave him the thumb's up, which Carlos returned with a salute. Claire smiled, happy that he wasn't dead. But she sort of felt out of place, like she didn't really belong in this group, a leftover, or maybe that piece of a 500 part jigsaw puzzle that just won't fit. She thought for some reason of the number 2.
"Where have you been?" Jill asked, leaning over, hands on hips, grinning widely. Carlos brushed back some hair in one suave motion, the same combination of a smirk and a smile mastering his face. "Here," he said simply. "Doing things. Waiting." "What have you found out?" Brad asked. A shadow instantly blurred and darkened Carlos' face.
"A nuclear missile is going to be launched into the center of the city at dawn, which is coming soon. The four of us have to split up and find some way to escape, or we'll all be caught in the blast." The information slowly sunk into Claire's mind, but Brad and Jill absorbed it quickly. Not for the first time, and not for the last, did she wonder how much this enviroment had changed them, hardened them, made them take in huge infoloads so quickly it defied their humanity.
Carlos put a hand on Jill's cheek. "Watch out for your crazy fan," he said softly, gazing at her. Crazy fan? Claire thought. Oh; Nemesis. Like a deranged stalker of a celebrity who was really just an over-enthused fan. Weird humor this guy had. Carlos turned sharply on his heel and sped off.
"Remember to explore separately!" he called from over his shoulder as he disappeared.
Claire looked at Brad (who looked very perturbed for some new reason), who in turn looked at Jill, who in turn looked back at Claire.
"Looks like we're in a zombie-infested city with a deranged mutant chasing us," Claire opted. "It's time to split up."
I just want to saw "THANK YOU!" to everyone who reviewed the original (It was deleted at twenty reviews)!! You guys kept me going all the way! *getting emotional* Anyway, please keep reading this neopost (if you will) of the story, and PLEASE don't stop reviewing! THANK YOU ALL!!!!
S.T.A.R.S. Girl
Claire gasped. He'd kill them right now; all of them. "Why?!" she sputtered. "Who are you?" "What's the U.B.C.S. really for?" Brad asked, face pale and expressionless. Nicholai snorted and rolled his small, sharp eyes. "Much like the S.T.A.R.S. team you and Ms. Valentine were in, the U.B.C.S. was sent to get combat data. But," he chortled mirthlessly, "No one ever thought they'd be completely wiped out. Ah, yes...and it's YOUR turn now!" He brought his dark attentions back to the four of them.
But Jill wasn't listening, wasn't even paying attention. Carlos...a tool? Umbrella really did play with people, using them like rubber dolls and pulling at their rubber legs... Damn them! She was sick of people playing god, all around her! She took one step forward, and Nicholai immediately trained his Colt on her. The fury was something almost tangible, emanating from her ominously.
Claire drew in her breath as Nicholai quietly clicked back the hammer on his weapon, cold fire in his eyes. But he didn't have enough time; a loud crack rang out, the unmistakable discharge of a gun firing. Nicholai---slowly, it seemed to Claire, so slowly she thought that he would never hit the ground---fell forward, face a mask of surprise, not even anger in those flint eyes. He did hit the ground (much to her surprise), and Leon appeared in the space where he had been, standing behind him, with gun pointed at him and smoke sifting from it. His face was solemn, but not remorseful. "Leon!" she took a few almost-running jumps towards him and clutched at his arm. "Leon!" she repeated.
Nicholai began to writhe on the ground. Blood poured out the back of his trenchcoat, staining the grey graveyard grass. "You..." he said suddenly, surprising them all. Jill and Brad each took a step closer to him, closing the circle enclosing the dying operative. Sherry stood behind them all, face distorted in terror and shock.
"Bastards!" Nicholai spat, but voice bubbly now, frothy crimson liquid spilling from his gaping mouth. "He'll kill you...all of you..." "You mean Nemesis?" asked Jill. Claire jumped when she heard her friend's voice; no emotion at all, as cut-and-dried as spam. She shivered, wondering in the back of her mind what this place was doing to them. "He won't catch us," Valentine finished. "Ever."
Nicholai grinned through the blood gushing from his nose and mouth, a horrible sight to see. "I didn't say it would be Nemesis...someone else...." He coughed violently, body convulsing like a dog who'd been shot. Finally the spasm ceased. "I'm talking about somebody else...He's after you, all of you...Oliviera, Vickers, you, the brat, the wench and the pretty boy..." another coughing fit attacked him. Jill looked unimpressed, and Brad folded his arms across his chest. Claire stared at their faces. No emotion, somber but menacing all the same. "And also, you're other friend..."
Jill stared at him suddenly. "Other...?" her eyes widened and the darkness, which had held her composure together, vanished. She turned to Brad, dumbstruck. He had a similar expression of disbelief. "Who?" he asked. Nicholai smiled insanely at them, eyes wide and surely delirious now. "The Russian boy, who used to work at the freakshow. Do you remember him? The dogfaced boy....He reminds me of the other target." He grinned, and sank close to the ground, obviously at the end of his rope. The pallor of his skin faded, as did his clarity and voice. "Reminds me a lot..." He paused. "It's a beautiful morning." And then, even though his eyes were open, they didn't see the faces of the people around him.
There was a silence. Claire awkwardly let go of Leon's arm, trying to figure out how without seeming like she wanted to get away from him, but wondering if she should really be this close to him. Sherry tried very hard not to let out any of her building sobs. Jill ran a hand through her hair and stared at the body, and Brad whistled lowly. The silence went on.
And on. On some more.
More.
"Okay, this is stupid. I've gotta be the one to break this tension," Leon spoke up at last. "Well," said Jill quietly, "I was really just thinking. What did he mean...?" "He was illussional, after all," Brad said. "I don't think he knew what he meant either." He didn't sound convinced. "Whatever," Claire said, tugging again at her gnarled ponytail. "Leon---" she turned to him "---How'd you get here? And...where's Carlos??"
Leon scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable. "Well," he said unevenly, "I was getting ancy about you guys. We'd made it to some factory---abandoned, of course. I told him I would go and get you all, and we'd meet back there. Maybe it was stupid, to leave him there, but if I hadn't you'd all be dead, wouldn't you?" Claire nodded, and Jill smiled, a little sadly. "Yeah," she said in a very quiet voice. "Let's go, then." Leon pointed back the way he'd came. "There's a footpath," he explained quickly when he was greeted by confused looks. "Oh yeah," Brad said. "I remember this path. Leads out of the park, and beyond that...the chemical factory. Right." Jill nodded, thumb at the corner of her mouth, looking thoughtful with glazed eyes. And then they were going on ahead down the footpath.
Tangled and overgrown, spattered with suspicious red marks, but still clear, the footpath lead well ahead, into darkness not to be penetrated with the naked eye. Claire continually stumbled over weedy plants choking the side of the trail she shleped along, tripping and using her own momentum to regain her balance. The only ones not suffering from the miserable under-growths were Sherry, who was a nimble little girl and who's eyes had adjusted fine to the dark, and Brad, who had grown up in rural Ohio. Lucky them, Claire thought, and a sigh sped through her mind. And then she fell face down and smacked her head on a root.
The moon was very high now. Soon it would be daybreak... "GUYS!" she heard Brad call ahead of them, although his form was swallowed in shadows. "GUYS! COME HERE!" And Claire saw something happen to Jill; she changed, body stiffened, and then a horrible look of disbelief and sadness spread over her face, and she was rushing ahead, never-minding the weeds grabbing at her ankles. "NO!" she yelled. Claire looked at Leon as Jill disappeared into the same blackness that had seemingly eaten Brad. "What was that about....?" She asked him quietly, tugging at his hand. He raised an eyebrow at her. I'm acting like Sherry, thought Claire. Sherry. How was she?
The little girl was looking ahead at the path with glistening eyes, face blank like an empty canvas. She took one step forward, then ran, swift and gone from eyesight in a moment. Claire had no choice; she had to chase after them. Finally she could see the others again---Leon skidded to a stop behind her---and she saw Jill chewing Brad out, yet simultaneously hovering over him, worried. "Don't ever call like that again! I really thought you would be dead when I got here! Just like....like.....Are you really okay?" He reassured her, then pointed to a small ditch off the nature trail.
Looking down, Claire saw why. Two dead U.B.C.S. servicemen were lying, twisted into odd and surreal positions, greeted her gaze. Outfits stained with blood, bodies torn and pulled into oblivion, she could do nothing but gape. Leon stumbled down into the ditch beside them, and pointed to one's hand. He clasped an official document, which Leon tugged from his dead body. His fingers were curled and cooled around it, and only gave when they were individually pryed open. Leon held up the crinkled paper triumphantly, but no smile lighted his face. He staggered back up to the others, and handed the sheet to Brad.
"They're orders, I guess; they confirm what Nicholai said earlier. The other "supervisors," as he said, were also instructed to destroy the hospital and all the data stored inside it. Guess he beat them to it...didn't he say he'd shot a supervisor? I guess he had some reason for wanting to get ahead of the game like...that." He handed the plan to Jill, who clutched it like it was trying to get away from her. Brad glanced back the way they'd came, the place they'd left, where Nicholai's bloody body lay. "Umbrella is covering its tracks, and, for some reason, a lot of their supervisors are winding up dead," he said.
"Who want's to bet it's not just a cowinky-dink?" Leon spat sarcastically.
"I won't take that bet," Claire breathed, watching intently and without blinking as Jill pocketed the notes. "I would never take that bet."
"Let's keep going," Jill said, hands on her hips, a military air pervading her countenance. She nodded ahead. "To where Carlos is. I'm ready to leave." Sherry nodded vigorously.
The path seemed to get better from that point on, less dead plants trying to trip and kill them, it seemed. Brad and Sherry were still well ahead. Finally, the path opened up. The great grey shell of a factory greeted them, silent against the September sky, the cast of Raccoon burning in the backdrop. Jill groaned. Brad looked away for a second. Sherry gripped Claire's hand much too tightly. That was their city, in ruins, over there.
"Bridge," Sherry said quietly, pointing to a very rickety looking bridge. It led to the factory's front gate. Beneath the bridge was a sort of sewege moat, the gushing sound of it flashing in their ears. Jill stepped forward. "No," Claire caught her arm. "I'll go first." Jill stared at her for a second, then shook her head. Leon walked forward without warning and over to the bridge. "Hey!" Jill cried, struggling in Claire's grip. But Leon was already walking across the unsteady wreck of a crossing, which was swaying dangerously beneath him. Finally, he had reached the other side. He turned and grinned at them, giving them the V for Victory. Sherry was already ahead of the older survivors, scurrying across the bridge, which didn't seem to notice she was there. It didn't sway under her light weight, and she skipped and skidded across almost happily, the ghost of a smile brightening her face when she turned around to look at Claire, Brad and Jill.
"Go first," Jill said, pushing on Brad's back. "You're next lightest, I think." "No," he said, turning around. "Claire is. She's twenty pounds less than me." "Wow, and that will make like so much difference!" Jill said dryly. "Just didn't want you to get your facts wrong," he said in an equally sarcastic tone. "You're so stupid! You're like 'nuh uh, she's twenty freaking pounds lighter than me, yeppers!'" she said, shoving him playfully. "You suck at comebacks," he said, using his shoulder to shove her back. Claire decided to use some tactics which had always worked before. "Jill, stop flirting with Brad!" she cried loudly. They froze. She grinned at them, triumphant: embarrass them and they go into freeze-frame mode, than stop. "I'll go first," she finished, flashing the loser sign at them both. She put a foot onto the bridge.
"S.T.A.R.S."
It took her a second for her smile to fade, for her to both react and comprehend. She looked up and saw the stalker...Nemesis. "S.T.A.R.S." it rasped at her again, demanding.
"IT WANT'S US!" screamed Jill from behind her, but Claire couldn't understand the words, didn't even move, whole body frozen in indignation and terror. This thing, this Umbrella creation, it was disgusting, horrible, insane, twisted, a sick parody of all she knew was good and human and right...
The bridge fluctuated as Jill sprang onto it, Brad behind her, both coming around her side to hopelessly confront the creature. Claire snatched at Jill's arm. "LET'S JUMP!" she screamed, her thoughts and actions flooding her once again. She was herself, and it was time to react, as she knew she could. Jill didn't even nod, just tugged herself from Claire's hold with a surprising force, and shoved the younger girl over the ropes and into the murky moat below. Claire's expression was frozen as she plunged beyond the bridge, eyes set wideopen and mouth the slightest bit open, hair flying as the wind rushed up beside her in the opposite direction.
In a moment the water closed over her head, and it was cold and dark and a horrible greenish-grey, and a terrible fear seized her. In an instant she doubted her ability to swim back up, thinking wildly in that moment that she would sink further, beyond help, and drown, drown, the surface of the water far above her. But then her arms worked and she pulled herself over the breaking point, the now-freezing night air welcome to her lungs. Plunges and huge splashes beside her; Brad and Jill had flung themselves in.
She floated above-water, arms working as she looked up. Words burst from her mouth: "RUN, LEON! SHERRY, GO!" Her eyes stung with more than the water around her. She tore at her lower-lip with her teeth. But then there was an "mmph!" behind her. She turned and saw two ripples, and understood immediately that her friends had gone under to avoid the monstrosity's gaze. She sucked in air enough to fill a tanker, and followed their leads.
Cold. Her only sensation for a moment was cold, and then realised it was more than cold, it was "cold...water." Her arms flayed around wildly, and she was above-water again. She looked up, and saw that Nemesis had it's back to her, and also heard hurried and flurried running steps on gravelly grass---Leon and Sherry were running. Oh thank god, she thought. Not daring to talk out loud, afraid the monster would hear and understand.
She felt a clammy, wet hand seize her arm-she turned and saw Jill, swimming backwards and pulling her to the gaping opening of a sewer duct. "We can get in through there," she hissed, Brad already crouched in the opening. Claire nodded and swam for herself. She struggled to clamber up onto the cold metal and out of the soggy, unhealthy water. She looked up, about to say something. "At leas---" But she stopped when Jill hit Brad very hard on the neck. "Ow!" he said lowly. "What the hell?!" "Don't you push me under the water like that again!" she growled quietly. "I thought you were going to kill me!" "Oh, that's likely," Brad said in an off-handed tone. She hit his neck again. "You GUYS!" Claire said, the anger almost audible in her voice. "Let's just go...I'm so worried..." "Alright," Jill said, standing up as much as the low ceiling would allow. "Let us go on noble comrades," she said. They walked forward.
Jill tugged a door open and immediately whipped out her Magnum, aimed at a very large number of zombies. A quintet, it looked like. Claire choked back a scream. Brad took a step backward, in a ready-to-run position. Blam! Blam! Blam! Jill shot at the carrier's repeatedly, face stoneset with anger and frustation. "Just DIE, dammit!" she screamed at them, voice bouncing off the tunnel walls and back to her. Claire fired off a few handgun shots, and Brad was leaning against the door back, obviously a last defense. But suddenly the zombies were cut down remarkably quickly, moaning horribly and splaying out and falling forward, sickening smacking sounds accompanying this. Carlos stood behind them, a smirk-smile on his tanned face. He waved at them in salutations, and Jill's face changed. Her mouth opened in a surprised smile and her eyes opened, and she rushed over and hugged him. Brad grinned at him, and gave him the thumb's up, which Carlos returned with a salute. Claire smiled, happy that he wasn't dead. But she sort of felt out of place, like she didn't really belong in this group, a leftover, or maybe that piece of a 500 part jigsaw puzzle that just won't fit. She thought for some reason of the number 2.
"Where have you been?" Jill asked, leaning over, hands on hips, grinning widely. Carlos brushed back some hair in one suave motion, the same combination of a smirk and a smile mastering his face. "Here," he said simply. "Doing things. Waiting." "What have you found out?" Brad asked. A shadow instantly blurred and darkened Carlos' face.
"A nuclear missile is going to be launched into the center of the city at dawn, which is coming soon. The four of us have to split up and find some way to escape, or we'll all be caught in the blast." The information slowly sunk into Claire's mind, but Brad and Jill absorbed it quickly. Not for the first time, and not for the last, did she wonder how much this enviroment had changed them, hardened them, made them take in huge infoloads so quickly it defied their humanity.
Carlos put a hand on Jill's cheek. "Watch out for your crazy fan," he said softly, gazing at her. Crazy fan? Claire thought. Oh; Nemesis. Like a deranged stalker of a celebrity who was really just an over-enthused fan. Weird humor this guy had. Carlos turned sharply on his heel and sped off.
"Remember to explore separately!" he called from over his shoulder as he disappeared.
Claire looked at Brad (who looked very perturbed for some new reason), who in turn looked at Jill, who in turn looked back at Claire.
"Looks like we're in a zombie-infested city with a deranged mutant chasing us," Claire opted. "It's time to split up."
I just want to saw "THANK YOU!" to everyone who reviewed the original (It was deleted at twenty reviews)!! You guys kept me going all the way! *getting emotional* Anyway, please keep reading this neopost (if you will) of the story, and PLEASE don't stop reviewing! THANK YOU ALL!!!!