Resident Evil: End Game
Chapter 9
The group had been able to calm some of the people that had once lived in the beautiful city of Manitou, the city that had turned into a living graveyard. Some people were reluctant to stop shouting, or screaming, or crying, and they couldn't blame them...after all, they had probably lost a relative or a friend in the incident. Besides, Jill, Brad, and Carlos, as well as everyone else, had seen what Umbrella had done to people in the past. They had seen how they deprived people of their lives, and they knew the pain that came along with knowing that your family, friends, or the town you used to live in was taken away from you completely, never to return.
Bu the people who had once lived in Manitou didn't know that screaming and shouting would lure the undead monsters to the area they had evacuated to, a large building that was close to the street that led to Topeka. They didn't know that if they kept up the noise, they would no longer be living, and so the group was trying their best to quiet them down, although their attempts were somewhat futile...for a little while, anyway. After a couple of minutes, about fifteen it seemed, the citizens had quieted down a little bit, although there were some who didn't, including the frightened baby that flailed in her mother's lap, wailing piteously. It also included the grown man who sat along the side of the wall, trembling and hugging his chest, while trying to hold back his own cries. It seemed that the dark building had frightened them, as well, for there were so many shadows that they had the eerie feeling that a monster could reveal itself at any moment and turn the place into a bloody massacre. But the lights had been turned off as a precaution. The undead were attracted to the any sounds, movement, sometimes even bright light... It wasn't as if the huge crown of people that sat in the building wasn't a danger, either. The scent of their living blood would surely lure the monster's to the area, so they would have to make short work of talking.
Jill looked around anxiously, trembling badly while brushing her hair back instinctively. She didn't want to get into a situation like this again. Sure, she and the rest of her group had gone into plenty of Umbrella facilities, fought with plenty of monsters, but there had been only one city that had been infected. Now, there were two, and if things got worse, there would be more than that. Topeka was in danger of being infected, as was Birchenville...then, any town nearby would be liable to be attacked...
Plus, Umbrella could send in one of their 'S.W.A.T.' teams, as well. That would definitely not be good news, for their idea of S.W.A.T. was a group that killed any survivors of the incident, a way to keep their accident quiet. No survivors, no witnesses, and there would be no peeps about Umbrella's experiments. Of course, Jill and the others had gotten away from them numerous times, but usually by the skin of their teeth. Only once had they been able to get away with hardly a scratch, and that was a one time thing. They couldn't take chances.
She shook her head sadly, remembering Raccoon City, remembering the innocent lives that had been destroyed. So many had been tortured by Umbrella, so many had been killed, and those few who got away, including Rowan, normally lost a close relative. Rowan had been the unlucky one... She lost her mother, her father, her friends. She had no one to turn to, only her aunt and her close adult friends, the ones who had helped her get through the city. But even then, there had been plenty of times when she was nearly killed, or she nearly lost one of them...like the time Brad had been shot in the lower abdoment, narrowly missing his internal organs.
She turned her head to the right, looking at Brad, who was leaning against the wall, clutching a small cellphone between his hands. He was trying to dial someone's number, and a worried expression was clear on his face. It was obvious who he was trying to get ahold of, but the frustrated look upon his face showed that he was having some difficulty getting anybody to answer.
A phone rang, and it came from somewhere beside her, where Gartha was sitting. She looked up for a moment, then reached down to her side, lifting a small cellphone out of her pocket and looking at it, as if it were the first time she saw it. Hesitantly, she hit a button and placed it by her ear, speaking softly into it, causing a small, nervous laugh to erupt from Brad's mouth. He turned to face Gartha and shook his head, while she nodded in disappointement, flicking the phoned off and placing it back into her pocket whilst Brad did the same.
*Gartha has Rowan's phone,* Jill thought to herself, shaking her head again before looking down at her feet. *There's no way we can get ahold of them now...unless she calls one of the phones... I wonder what's going on with her and the others...are they alright?*
She heard a soft, sharp breath behind her, and turned almost immediantly to come face to face with a young boy, the same boy who happened to save them from the maniacal half-human that now wandered the streets, searching for them. The same boy who said that he was an orphan, that he wandered the streets alone, and has done so for many years...with a gun as protection. She watched with curiousity as the boy conversed with Leon, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It seemed Leon was good at jokes, for the boy was chuckling every now and then, as was the former R.P.D. officer.
*Cole was the kid's name... Poor boy, all alone for so long...no one to look after him. No family, no friends...until now, hopefully.*
She saw Leon catch a glimpse at her, and he grinned softly, nodding a bit before turning and motioning for Claire to join him in his little conversation with Cole. The younger Redfield looked over and nodded to him before walking over quietly, a solemn look upon her face, her eyes hardened with knowledge that had increased over the years. Jill noticed that and smiled a little, realizing that the years had passed by swiftly, and it didn't leave any of her friends untouched. All in all, they had all changed plenty, and all of them had grown more mature over the years.
Jill shrugged her shoulders a little as she turned around to look at Chris, who was now standing in front of the crowd, raising his arms in front of his face and bringing them down again in a motion to try and get the rest of the unsettled group of civilians to quite down a bit. He cleared his throat slightly, looking towards Jill and motioning for her to join him, and she came to him obediantly, knowing what he needed her for at the moment. When she made her way towards the front of the group and by his side, she noticed that the civilians had quieted down significantly, and most, if not all, were staring at them, waiting for an answer as to what was going on. They had no idea what to do in this kind of situation...they had never dealt with sudden hordes of undead piling into their city, tearing at everybody in sight, murdering everything and leaving no one to tell the tale... They had never seen anything as incredibly eerie as this...they had never been hunted down by Umbrella, a company who had sworn to capture any survivors and terminate them.
No no, these people were confused. They didn't know what to believe in anymore. Jill could see the look of fright and doubt on the people's faces as she passed them, and she saw a few tears running down a few cheeks. She saw some of their faces were pale and almost deathly, and that some people were shaking like a tree stuck in a tornado.
She also caught the thick, metallic stench of blood. Some of these people had been injured, been bitten. If that was the fact, those people wouldn't have much time to live. those people would join the army of zombies outside, the same zombies who were heading to the very spot they hid in. They needed to get out, to find some help for the infected people, perhaps a vaccine. They needed to get out of the city alive...just like they needed to get out of Raccoon five years ago...
The nightmare was coming back to life, Jill knew that, but there were plenty of things different now. For one, there was a whole group depending on them...a group of a hundred or more people who were willing to get out of the decaying place they sat in. Jill no longer only had three companions by her side, like she did in Raccoon. She was no longer in a maze-like building with deathtraps around every corner, like the Spencer Estate. No...this time, she had her partners alongside her. This time, they knew what to do, they knew how to get out of this place...
She looked up at Chris and saw him smiling down at her, his smile slightly eerie and nervous. She saw his eyes, and automatically read the anxiety and grave fear that was placed firmly behind them. In a sense, she thought that those two feelings that were behind Chris' brown eyes was slightly ironic. Chris was the same person who, five years ago, had led them into Europe. He was the same person who fearlessly fought the undead beasts created by Umbrella in the mansion and the facilities, the same person who had taken damage to protect Jill and the others... And now, he was afraid because they were trapped in a city full of monsters only thought to exist in horror movies. But then again, maybe he was always afraid...maybe the heroic person that he always acted as was only a facade to his true feelings, his true fears. Maybe he was always afraid... afraid of death, of Umbrella winning, of the loss of his friends. He was afraid for his sister, she knew, and he was afraid of failing the most important mission of his life...the mission to destroy Umbrella. Maybe-
She cut herself off then, locking eyes with him for a moment before nodding and facing the huge crowd before them. Now was not the time to ponder about past experiences or feelings. Now was the time to help innocent people escape the clutches of death.
A soft sigh escaped her mouth, and Jill parted her lips to speak. Her voice came out softly, yet sternly, and it quivered slightly as the words formed.
"Alright then!" she called out hoarsely, and the crowd before her silenced almost completely. Eyes turned to look at her, talking mouths slammed shut, and blank faces faced her, unsure of what to say or do. Wisely, none of them spoke, as they all wanted to hear the words that were going to be said. All of them wanted to know what was going on.
Jill crained her neck to the left a little bit, smiling lightly when she heard a bone in her neck crack a little before she began to speak again. "You want to know what's going on here?" she shouted again, this time earning a few nods, as well as some shouts of answers. She paused, then nodded in approval. "If you want the truth, brace yourself," she hissed slowly. "Everything you know about the company called Umbrella was a lie."
"What's Umbrella got to do with those fuckin' zombies outside?!" somebody in the crowd screamed, a male, and Jill looked towards the source of the voice, although she couldn't pick out who had said it.
She sighed a little, then looked away, her face shifting into one of emotional anguish as she turned away from the crowd before bowing her head to stare at her feet. "Umbrella...is more than a pharmaceutical company...They made viruses that made humans into those zombies you saw outside. The mutations? They were once insects...animals...plants..." SHe looked back for a moment when the crowd began to speak to each other, confusion dawning on their faces as they conversed with one another, trying to figure out what she meant. "The viruses...were called the T-Virus...and G-Virus..." Jill cast a quick glance at CLaire, and she saw the younger Redfield nod in knowing. "There was also the T-Veronica Virus...and probably countless others that we haven't discovered yet..."
"How would you know this?!" somebody else in the crowd, a young woman, yelled shrilly, anxiety clear in her voice.
Jill shifted her eyes away from the crowd, and Chris caught the look of uncomfort on her face. He walked up to her swiftly, reaching his right hand out and placing it tenderly on her shoulder before giving a small nod. Jill looked up at him for a moment before cracking a small, weak smile and backing up and letting her boyfriend do the talking.
Chris smirked ever so slightly before looking at the civilians of Manitou, but he quickly frowned when he realized what he was about to say. He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he opened his mouth and began to speak about how they discovered what was going on behind everyone's backs...
"We...," he began, shifting his feet a little bit as he did, "were the S.T.A.R.S. members from five years ago. Do any of you recall the news broadcasts about the explosion of the Spencer Estate in upper Michigan?" A few people nodded. "Well...we first found out about the experiments that Umbrella performed way back then... When we tried to expose the truth, Umbrella and our chief made up the excuse that we had been drunk and lit the place on fire... As much as I wish that were true, it wasn't. We were exiled from our jobs, and we were hunted down by the company because we knew too much.
"The problem was, we weren't the only ones who were in danger back then. Umbrella had planned on letting the viruses loose in the city, with the help of some of their friends and one of our enemies." He took in a deep breath. "The city...was turned into something like this place is transforming into. The people, creatures, and everything else was destroyed...turned into monsters. The city became...well...a war-zone."
"Nobody was able to evacuate in time," Brad added, now beginning to walk up to the ex-S.T.A.R.S. marksman and standing beside him, nodding shakily. "Nobody was able to get out of the city in time...not like you will. Only a few people escaped... Nobody was able to get out because nobody believed us... They thought we were basically lunatics who drank too much, but when they realized we were right, it was too late..."
"So for five years," Chris continued, "my group and I have been in Europe, trying to expose the secret and ripping apart some of Umbrella's facilities... A couple of my friends stayed in the U.S. to try and expose information here... For five years, we've been hunted down, for five years, we've been chased and attacked by monsters, and nothing like Raccoon City, the city that had been infected so long ago, has ever happened again, except in two places... And even then, there were few survivors. We came here today to meet up with our friends again...and we didn't expect this. Luckily, we arrived early...we can still get you all out..."
"If what you say is true," somebody shouted from the back of the group of Manitou citizens, "...what will happen to us? Will Umbrella come in to get us? To...kill us?"
A few people began to panick, and Brad now gritted his teeth before shaking his head, clearing his throat to get everybody's attention. "It is possible," he shouted out, and there were a few more screams in the crowd. "However," he spoke again, louder this time, quieting everyone, "we can get you out of this city before it *does* happen. But...was anyone here biten by one of those creatures...?"
A few people raised their hands, while others nodded and called out. Brad's fears were confirmed, and he looked to the rest of his friends for acknowledgement. They all looked at each other for a moment, but then Claire spoke up, knowing very well that if she told them what would happen to those injured, they would freak out, letting all Hell break loose.
"We'll help you all later...with medical attention," she said softly. "But now...we have to get out of here. Will you trust us?"
For a moment, there was silence...a very long one at that. Nothing was said, nobody cried, nobody screamed. There were no sneezes, coughs, or weeps...just silence. A minute had passed, and still, it was quiet enough to hear the drop of a pin or needle on the concrete floor of the building. The atmosphere in the room was becoming more tense and fearsome by the moment, and, if you listened closely enough, you would swear that you could hear the hungry moans of distant zombies, who were slowly hobbling towards the building, about twenty block away and growing closer.
And then...
"I trust you," somebody spoke, so quietly, and yet, everybody could hear him.
"So do I."
"And me."
"For my family...I'll join, too."
The whole group of citizens began to nod now, speaking out in the affirmative, shouting out in glee, realizing that they would be able to live through this very grave situation...considering if they hurried. Small smiles began to creep onto the ex-S.T.A.R.S. members faces, as well as everyone else who was already aquainted with the group. Alice, in the meanwhile, sighed and looked up, her eyes wide. She looked up to see Carlos beside her, and he caught her gaze before smiling softly to her. She returned the gesture with her own smile...but it turned into a frown when he looked away.
She remembered what happened to Rain, what happened to Matt, and Kaplan, and J.D. All of them had been killed at the hand by Umbrella and their monstrous viruses. She had lost everyone she knew, save for the group she had joined shortly after the fact. She knew that there was a high chance of losing them, as well, but she would need to take the risk. Everyone's life was on the line...and she would help save them... This time, things would be different.
Gartha looked up at the ceiling, as well, her thoughts going to the terror she had gone through. She was in the hospital with her friend Jeff only half an hour ago, and he was in critical care because of his serious condition. At one moment, he was coughing up a storm, and then the next minute, he was grabbing at her throat, trying to bite into her... She remembered fleeing...and running into Wesker...the man who said he would help her, but lied when the S.T.A.R.S. members showed up...
And now, Rowan was in danger. So was Sherry, and everyone else... They needed to get out of this city and find those two, as well as save the lives of hundreds of citizens.
Her thoughts were drowned out, however, when the rest of the group began to speak out loudly, agrreing in joining the escapade to get out of the city of the dead. She couldn't hear anything but the commotion, but she did hear, admist the chatting, Barry's voice ring out sharply, calling for everyone to keep quiet for a moment. She looked over to him and saw him smile a little bit before he rubbed his chin, his eyes glinting with a kind of hope.
"If we're gonna get out of this place," he began, his voice rough and kind, "we'd better hurry. The zombies are closing in... When we leave, stay close to the group, don't wander off. We need to find some method of transportation...understand?"
There were nods amongst the crowd, as well as shouts. Grinning softly, Barry, Brad, Carlos, Jill, Alice, Chris, Claire, Rebecca, and Gartha began to gather the people into one group. After a few minutes of preparing, they began to move out of the building, shouts and cries ringing through the air before they were shushed by Jill and Alice. Swiftly and silently, they began to move towards the edge of town, towards the road that connected with Topeka...
But they didn't know that Topeka was already in danger.
**********
Wesker watched them leave with wry amusement.
Everything was going to plan, almost. He was in pursuit of this very large group of survivors and anti-Umbrellas, and Steve, in the meanwhile, was on the hunt for Rowan, Sherry, and the other brats, as well as the rest of the people who inhabitted Birchenville. If everything went correctly, then, when he returned to the Umbrella headquarters, not only would he be congratulated by the boss, he would get a raise in his paycheck... He was already in extremely high rank in the Umbrella company, second only to the boss of the entire place. Besides, he wasn't in this only for the money, he was in it to see that those betrayers to Umbrella would be destroyed, one by one, ripped limb from limb. He would make sure that their body parts would be spread upon the ground and buried seperately from each other...
The whole plan seemed to perfect...except for one glitch.
The hairs on the back of his neck raised as a slight twinge went up his spine. He could feel the pressure in the air around him begin to increase, and he could smell the rain that would soon be falling. He could feel the humidity, and he knew why there was so much. As he looked towards the skyline, towards the direction of Topeka and Birchenville, he could sense the presence of a growing storm. From the way the pressure and dewpoint was, it would be an intense one, perhaps a deadly one. Since this was, in fact, Kansas, perhaps it would be more deadly than a normal thunderstorm...
But he wouldn't let that interfere. He wouldn't fail this mission... Through hail or snow, he would annihilate his enemy...
A smirk began to form on his face as he turned to look down the road, watching the rather large group make their way towards Topeka. Snickering quietly to himself, he began to move after them, keeping out of sight, which wasn't very hard. After all, he was on the roof of a building, and he was hopping from the top of one building to another. Perhaps it was a waste of energy to pursue them like this...he could simply go down and murder them all within ten minutes at the maximum.
But he wanted to see them squirm, to see them suffer. And he wanted to see how far they could get...
This would be a very, very fun hunt...
~*~*~*~*~*~
Well? How was it? Better?
I tried imporving with the commas...did I do good?
R&R, plz!
Chapter 9
The group had been able to calm some of the people that had once lived in the beautiful city of Manitou, the city that had turned into a living graveyard. Some people were reluctant to stop shouting, or screaming, or crying, and they couldn't blame them...after all, they had probably lost a relative or a friend in the incident. Besides, Jill, Brad, and Carlos, as well as everyone else, had seen what Umbrella had done to people in the past. They had seen how they deprived people of their lives, and they knew the pain that came along with knowing that your family, friends, or the town you used to live in was taken away from you completely, never to return.
Bu the people who had once lived in Manitou didn't know that screaming and shouting would lure the undead monsters to the area they had evacuated to, a large building that was close to the street that led to Topeka. They didn't know that if they kept up the noise, they would no longer be living, and so the group was trying their best to quiet them down, although their attempts were somewhat futile...for a little while, anyway. After a couple of minutes, about fifteen it seemed, the citizens had quieted down a little bit, although there were some who didn't, including the frightened baby that flailed in her mother's lap, wailing piteously. It also included the grown man who sat along the side of the wall, trembling and hugging his chest, while trying to hold back his own cries. It seemed that the dark building had frightened them, as well, for there were so many shadows that they had the eerie feeling that a monster could reveal itself at any moment and turn the place into a bloody massacre. But the lights had been turned off as a precaution. The undead were attracted to the any sounds, movement, sometimes even bright light... It wasn't as if the huge crown of people that sat in the building wasn't a danger, either. The scent of their living blood would surely lure the monster's to the area, so they would have to make short work of talking.
Jill looked around anxiously, trembling badly while brushing her hair back instinctively. She didn't want to get into a situation like this again. Sure, she and the rest of her group had gone into plenty of Umbrella facilities, fought with plenty of monsters, but there had been only one city that had been infected. Now, there were two, and if things got worse, there would be more than that. Topeka was in danger of being infected, as was Birchenville...then, any town nearby would be liable to be attacked...
Plus, Umbrella could send in one of their 'S.W.A.T.' teams, as well. That would definitely not be good news, for their idea of S.W.A.T. was a group that killed any survivors of the incident, a way to keep their accident quiet. No survivors, no witnesses, and there would be no peeps about Umbrella's experiments. Of course, Jill and the others had gotten away from them numerous times, but usually by the skin of their teeth. Only once had they been able to get away with hardly a scratch, and that was a one time thing. They couldn't take chances.
She shook her head sadly, remembering Raccoon City, remembering the innocent lives that had been destroyed. So many had been tortured by Umbrella, so many had been killed, and those few who got away, including Rowan, normally lost a close relative. Rowan had been the unlucky one... She lost her mother, her father, her friends. She had no one to turn to, only her aunt and her close adult friends, the ones who had helped her get through the city. But even then, there had been plenty of times when she was nearly killed, or she nearly lost one of them...like the time Brad had been shot in the lower abdoment, narrowly missing his internal organs.
She turned her head to the right, looking at Brad, who was leaning against the wall, clutching a small cellphone between his hands. He was trying to dial someone's number, and a worried expression was clear on his face. It was obvious who he was trying to get ahold of, but the frustrated look upon his face showed that he was having some difficulty getting anybody to answer.
A phone rang, and it came from somewhere beside her, where Gartha was sitting. She looked up for a moment, then reached down to her side, lifting a small cellphone out of her pocket and looking at it, as if it were the first time she saw it. Hesitantly, she hit a button and placed it by her ear, speaking softly into it, causing a small, nervous laugh to erupt from Brad's mouth. He turned to face Gartha and shook his head, while she nodded in disappointement, flicking the phoned off and placing it back into her pocket whilst Brad did the same.
*Gartha has Rowan's phone,* Jill thought to herself, shaking her head again before looking down at her feet. *There's no way we can get ahold of them now...unless she calls one of the phones... I wonder what's going on with her and the others...are they alright?*
She heard a soft, sharp breath behind her, and turned almost immediantly to come face to face with a young boy, the same boy who happened to save them from the maniacal half-human that now wandered the streets, searching for them. The same boy who said that he was an orphan, that he wandered the streets alone, and has done so for many years...with a gun as protection. She watched with curiousity as the boy conversed with Leon, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It seemed Leon was good at jokes, for the boy was chuckling every now and then, as was the former R.P.D. officer.
*Cole was the kid's name... Poor boy, all alone for so long...no one to look after him. No family, no friends...until now, hopefully.*
She saw Leon catch a glimpse at her, and he grinned softly, nodding a bit before turning and motioning for Claire to join him in his little conversation with Cole. The younger Redfield looked over and nodded to him before walking over quietly, a solemn look upon her face, her eyes hardened with knowledge that had increased over the years. Jill noticed that and smiled a little, realizing that the years had passed by swiftly, and it didn't leave any of her friends untouched. All in all, they had all changed plenty, and all of them had grown more mature over the years.
Jill shrugged her shoulders a little as she turned around to look at Chris, who was now standing in front of the crowd, raising his arms in front of his face and bringing them down again in a motion to try and get the rest of the unsettled group of civilians to quite down a bit. He cleared his throat slightly, looking towards Jill and motioning for her to join him, and she came to him obediantly, knowing what he needed her for at the moment. When she made her way towards the front of the group and by his side, she noticed that the civilians had quieted down significantly, and most, if not all, were staring at them, waiting for an answer as to what was going on. They had no idea what to do in this kind of situation...they had never dealt with sudden hordes of undead piling into their city, tearing at everybody in sight, murdering everything and leaving no one to tell the tale... They had never seen anything as incredibly eerie as this...they had never been hunted down by Umbrella, a company who had sworn to capture any survivors and terminate them.
No no, these people were confused. They didn't know what to believe in anymore. Jill could see the look of fright and doubt on the people's faces as she passed them, and she saw a few tears running down a few cheeks. She saw some of their faces were pale and almost deathly, and that some people were shaking like a tree stuck in a tornado.
She also caught the thick, metallic stench of blood. Some of these people had been injured, been bitten. If that was the fact, those people wouldn't have much time to live. those people would join the army of zombies outside, the same zombies who were heading to the very spot they hid in. They needed to get out, to find some help for the infected people, perhaps a vaccine. They needed to get out of the city alive...just like they needed to get out of Raccoon five years ago...
The nightmare was coming back to life, Jill knew that, but there were plenty of things different now. For one, there was a whole group depending on them...a group of a hundred or more people who were willing to get out of the decaying place they sat in. Jill no longer only had three companions by her side, like she did in Raccoon. She was no longer in a maze-like building with deathtraps around every corner, like the Spencer Estate. No...this time, she had her partners alongside her. This time, they knew what to do, they knew how to get out of this place...
She looked up at Chris and saw him smiling down at her, his smile slightly eerie and nervous. She saw his eyes, and automatically read the anxiety and grave fear that was placed firmly behind them. In a sense, she thought that those two feelings that were behind Chris' brown eyes was slightly ironic. Chris was the same person who, five years ago, had led them into Europe. He was the same person who fearlessly fought the undead beasts created by Umbrella in the mansion and the facilities, the same person who had taken damage to protect Jill and the others... And now, he was afraid because they were trapped in a city full of monsters only thought to exist in horror movies. But then again, maybe he was always afraid...maybe the heroic person that he always acted as was only a facade to his true feelings, his true fears. Maybe he was always afraid... afraid of death, of Umbrella winning, of the loss of his friends. He was afraid for his sister, she knew, and he was afraid of failing the most important mission of his life...the mission to destroy Umbrella. Maybe-
She cut herself off then, locking eyes with him for a moment before nodding and facing the huge crowd before them. Now was not the time to ponder about past experiences or feelings. Now was the time to help innocent people escape the clutches of death.
A soft sigh escaped her mouth, and Jill parted her lips to speak. Her voice came out softly, yet sternly, and it quivered slightly as the words formed.
"Alright then!" she called out hoarsely, and the crowd before her silenced almost completely. Eyes turned to look at her, talking mouths slammed shut, and blank faces faced her, unsure of what to say or do. Wisely, none of them spoke, as they all wanted to hear the words that were going to be said. All of them wanted to know what was going on.
Jill crained her neck to the left a little bit, smiling lightly when she heard a bone in her neck crack a little before she began to speak again. "You want to know what's going on here?" she shouted again, this time earning a few nods, as well as some shouts of answers. She paused, then nodded in approval. "If you want the truth, brace yourself," she hissed slowly. "Everything you know about the company called Umbrella was a lie."
"What's Umbrella got to do with those fuckin' zombies outside?!" somebody in the crowd screamed, a male, and Jill looked towards the source of the voice, although she couldn't pick out who had said it.
She sighed a little, then looked away, her face shifting into one of emotional anguish as she turned away from the crowd before bowing her head to stare at her feet. "Umbrella...is more than a pharmaceutical company...They made viruses that made humans into those zombies you saw outside. The mutations? They were once insects...animals...plants..." SHe looked back for a moment when the crowd began to speak to each other, confusion dawning on their faces as they conversed with one another, trying to figure out what she meant. "The viruses...were called the T-Virus...and G-Virus..." Jill cast a quick glance at CLaire, and she saw the younger Redfield nod in knowing. "There was also the T-Veronica Virus...and probably countless others that we haven't discovered yet..."
"How would you know this?!" somebody else in the crowd, a young woman, yelled shrilly, anxiety clear in her voice.
Jill shifted her eyes away from the crowd, and Chris caught the look of uncomfort on her face. He walked up to her swiftly, reaching his right hand out and placing it tenderly on her shoulder before giving a small nod. Jill looked up at him for a moment before cracking a small, weak smile and backing up and letting her boyfriend do the talking.
Chris smirked ever so slightly before looking at the civilians of Manitou, but he quickly frowned when he realized what he was about to say. He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he opened his mouth and began to speak about how they discovered what was going on behind everyone's backs...
"We...," he began, shifting his feet a little bit as he did, "were the S.T.A.R.S. members from five years ago. Do any of you recall the news broadcasts about the explosion of the Spencer Estate in upper Michigan?" A few people nodded. "Well...we first found out about the experiments that Umbrella performed way back then... When we tried to expose the truth, Umbrella and our chief made up the excuse that we had been drunk and lit the place on fire... As much as I wish that were true, it wasn't. We were exiled from our jobs, and we were hunted down by the company because we knew too much.
"The problem was, we weren't the only ones who were in danger back then. Umbrella had planned on letting the viruses loose in the city, with the help of some of their friends and one of our enemies." He took in a deep breath. "The city...was turned into something like this place is transforming into. The people, creatures, and everything else was destroyed...turned into monsters. The city became...well...a war-zone."
"Nobody was able to evacuate in time," Brad added, now beginning to walk up to the ex-S.T.A.R.S. marksman and standing beside him, nodding shakily. "Nobody was able to get out of the city in time...not like you will. Only a few people escaped... Nobody was able to get out because nobody believed us... They thought we were basically lunatics who drank too much, but when they realized we were right, it was too late..."
"So for five years," Chris continued, "my group and I have been in Europe, trying to expose the secret and ripping apart some of Umbrella's facilities... A couple of my friends stayed in the U.S. to try and expose information here... For five years, we've been hunted down, for five years, we've been chased and attacked by monsters, and nothing like Raccoon City, the city that had been infected so long ago, has ever happened again, except in two places... And even then, there were few survivors. We came here today to meet up with our friends again...and we didn't expect this. Luckily, we arrived early...we can still get you all out..."
"If what you say is true," somebody shouted from the back of the group of Manitou citizens, "...what will happen to us? Will Umbrella come in to get us? To...kill us?"
A few people began to panick, and Brad now gritted his teeth before shaking his head, clearing his throat to get everybody's attention. "It is possible," he shouted out, and there were a few more screams in the crowd. "However," he spoke again, louder this time, quieting everyone, "we can get you out of this city before it *does* happen. But...was anyone here biten by one of those creatures...?"
A few people raised their hands, while others nodded and called out. Brad's fears were confirmed, and he looked to the rest of his friends for acknowledgement. They all looked at each other for a moment, but then Claire spoke up, knowing very well that if she told them what would happen to those injured, they would freak out, letting all Hell break loose.
"We'll help you all later...with medical attention," she said softly. "But now...we have to get out of here. Will you trust us?"
For a moment, there was silence...a very long one at that. Nothing was said, nobody cried, nobody screamed. There were no sneezes, coughs, or weeps...just silence. A minute had passed, and still, it was quiet enough to hear the drop of a pin or needle on the concrete floor of the building. The atmosphere in the room was becoming more tense and fearsome by the moment, and, if you listened closely enough, you would swear that you could hear the hungry moans of distant zombies, who were slowly hobbling towards the building, about twenty block away and growing closer.
And then...
"I trust you," somebody spoke, so quietly, and yet, everybody could hear him.
"So do I."
"And me."
"For my family...I'll join, too."
The whole group of citizens began to nod now, speaking out in the affirmative, shouting out in glee, realizing that they would be able to live through this very grave situation...considering if they hurried. Small smiles began to creep onto the ex-S.T.A.R.S. members faces, as well as everyone else who was already aquainted with the group. Alice, in the meanwhile, sighed and looked up, her eyes wide. She looked up to see Carlos beside her, and he caught her gaze before smiling softly to her. She returned the gesture with her own smile...but it turned into a frown when he looked away.
She remembered what happened to Rain, what happened to Matt, and Kaplan, and J.D. All of them had been killed at the hand by Umbrella and their monstrous viruses. She had lost everyone she knew, save for the group she had joined shortly after the fact. She knew that there was a high chance of losing them, as well, but she would need to take the risk. Everyone's life was on the line...and she would help save them... This time, things would be different.
Gartha looked up at the ceiling, as well, her thoughts going to the terror she had gone through. She was in the hospital with her friend Jeff only half an hour ago, and he was in critical care because of his serious condition. At one moment, he was coughing up a storm, and then the next minute, he was grabbing at her throat, trying to bite into her... She remembered fleeing...and running into Wesker...the man who said he would help her, but lied when the S.T.A.R.S. members showed up...
And now, Rowan was in danger. So was Sherry, and everyone else... They needed to get out of this city and find those two, as well as save the lives of hundreds of citizens.
Her thoughts were drowned out, however, when the rest of the group began to speak out loudly, agrreing in joining the escapade to get out of the city of the dead. She couldn't hear anything but the commotion, but she did hear, admist the chatting, Barry's voice ring out sharply, calling for everyone to keep quiet for a moment. She looked over to him and saw him smile a little bit before he rubbed his chin, his eyes glinting with a kind of hope.
"If we're gonna get out of this place," he began, his voice rough and kind, "we'd better hurry. The zombies are closing in... When we leave, stay close to the group, don't wander off. We need to find some method of transportation...understand?"
There were nods amongst the crowd, as well as shouts. Grinning softly, Barry, Brad, Carlos, Jill, Alice, Chris, Claire, Rebecca, and Gartha began to gather the people into one group. After a few minutes of preparing, they began to move out of the building, shouts and cries ringing through the air before they were shushed by Jill and Alice. Swiftly and silently, they began to move towards the edge of town, towards the road that connected with Topeka...
But they didn't know that Topeka was already in danger.
**********
Wesker watched them leave with wry amusement.
Everything was going to plan, almost. He was in pursuit of this very large group of survivors and anti-Umbrellas, and Steve, in the meanwhile, was on the hunt for Rowan, Sherry, and the other brats, as well as the rest of the people who inhabitted Birchenville. If everything went correctly, then, when he returned to the Umbrella headquarters, not only would he be congratulated by the boss, he would get a raise in his paycheck... He was already in extremely high rank in the Umbrella company, second only to the boss of the entire place. Besides, he wasn't in this only for the money, he was in it to see that those betrayers to Umbrella would be destroyed, one by one, ripped limb from limb. He would make sure that their body parts would be spread upon the ground and buried seperately from each other...
The whole plan seemed to perfect...except for one glitch.
The hairs on the back of his neck raised as a slight twinge went up his spine. He could feel the pressure in the air around him begin to increase, and he could smell the rain that would soon be falling. He could feel the humidity, and he knew why there was so much. As he looked towards the skyline, towards the direction of Topeka and Birchenville, he could sense the presence of a growing storm. From the way the pressure and dewpoint was, it would be an intense one, perhaps a deadly one. Since this was, in fact, Kansas, perhaps it would be more deadly than a normal thunderstorm...
But he wouldn't let that interfere. He wouldn't fail this mission... Through hail or snow, he would annihilate his enemy...
A smirk began to form on his face as he turned to look down the road, watching the rather large group make their way towards Topeka. Snickering quietly to himself, he began to move after them, keeping out of sight, which wasn't very hard. After all, he was on the roof of a building, and he was hopping from the top of one building to another. Perhaps it was a waste of energy to pursue them like this...he could simply go down and murder them all within ten minutes at the maximum.
But he wanted to see them squirm, to see them suffer. And he wanted to see how far they could get...
This would be a very, very fun hunt...
~*~*~*~*~*~
Well? How was it? Better?
I tried imporving with the commas...did I do good?
R&R, plz!