Thank you all for the reviews! You may all have more cookies! *tray is brought forward by Wesker wearing a pink flowery apron*
Shakahnna~ thanks for the review! No, STARS couldn't be perfect, nosiree. What would be the fun in that? I think cowering with garlic and a chainsaw would be a good idea too! ^^
Shady Ashford~ I'm glad you like the idea, and that my other chapter wasn't too shoddy. Sometimes things just don't seem to go to plan, ay? I sent you an email a while back, but I think my account might be playing up again. *evil glare at the computer*
Zarbok~ hey, thanks! If I need some help on vamp characteristics I'll give you a call! ^_^
Theburninsamari~ I'm going to up the 2people-1body thing in this chapter. Hope it goes well!
Chapter 24:
Claire watched her former friend suspiciously. She didn't want to think that Jill was a vampire. She thought she'd have been safe when she was gotten to the hospital but Claire should've known that viruses didn't stop as soon as a GP saw a patient.
James wheezed softly, glancing from one woman to the other, completely bewildered. Claire was openly hostile while Jill looked shocked and flustered. "Claire... what? Why? Put that gun down," she pleaded with none of her earlier anger.
Claire narrowed her eyes. "What are you?"
"Are you blind? It's me!" Jill looked at her desperately, shading her eyes from the light.
"Isn't that your friend from the hospital?" James whispered into Claire's ear.
She shook her head. She didn't trust this 'Jill' anymore than she'd trust a rotting zombie who cried 'brains'. "She's changed," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, "trust me on this one."
He looked at those inhuman eyes and agreed.
"Claire! Please... what's going on?"
She shook her head again with conviction. "You're not Jill," she muttered, briefly realising how it must've felt for Rebecca; finding all her comrades dead in the mansion. "Not Jill."
"Where is everybody? Are they okay? Chris? The kids? What's going on?"
Claire absently let her stance slacken, staring back with less certainty. "I don't know where anyone is," she admitted.
Jill looked stricken, eyes wide and her face unnaturally pale. Either this was the real Jill or a vampire doing an Oscar winning performance. Claire slowly lowered her gun but her expression showed she wasn't convinced. She didn't put it past a vamp to do a trick like this.
Jill rose to her feet gracefully, and Claire resumed her aggressive pose. "Sit back down!"
She didn't seem to hear.
"Sit back down or I'll shoot you, dammit!"
She slowed her approach to a gentle lurch; one hand still shading her now closed eyes, the other barely brushing the furry walls tenderly, deep in concentration. "I can find them," she murmured faintly.
"What do you mean?" Claire demanded.
"I... I can hear them." She knocked a fist against the bricks in a rhythmical impression of footfalls. "Footsteps... there are two groups. One from that tunnel and the others down the tunnel over there." She traced out a map in the fungi. "They'll be the heavier footsteps, of course."
"How do you know this?"
Jill opened her eyes and stared into Claire's own mournfully. "I don't know how."
There was a dubious snort, followed by a resigned sigh. "Then I guess you'd better lead us to the others." Claire let Jill pass her, received a confused look from James and then followed, her gun ready and indicating that she didn't trust Jill as much as a three-month dead fish.
*******
Ben weighed little for his height, and it was easy enough for Chris to slung him over a shoulder, giving Barry (who would normally volunteer for the lifting) a chance to rest his already injured shoulder. Ben's breathing was faint and irregular. Every so often he would take a deep intake of breath as his legs were jolted, or as Rebecca applied an astringent or pushed down on a tourniquet.
Rivulets of crimson persistently trailed over his calf ad dropped onto the sewer floor; the floor that seemed so may miles below him. Time transformed into never-ending agony. Trails of blood snaked through the tunnels, mingling with the moss and dirt.
Rebecca stepped back from the boy, having nothing else to do. Already the bandages were beginning to take a reddish tinge. It didn't seem like there would be much blood to stain them soon. Grimly Chris continued, trying to ignore the congealing liquid that covered his fingers and clothes.
"Someone's coming!" Barry hissed. He and Rebecca upholstered their weapons. Chris looked for somewhere to put Ben down before realising that he shouldn't move him. He felt very vulnerable and foolish.
Someone whimpered as a vampire hurtled down the tunnel.
~~~
Jill, still smarting over the bitterness of her reception, looked up at the disturbance. "Is that gunfire?"
~~~
Chunks of flesh and part of a rotting smile were blown of the creature but still it didn't seem phased. The vampire, the child grinned distortedly at the sight of so much food in one area.
~~~
A familiar sound reached the ears of our very bored Albert Wesker. "Gunfire!" Victoria hissed. "It must be STARS!"
Wesker rolled his eyes at her exquisite deduction skills.
~~~
Sena cringed, expecting the sounds of screaming and desperation to take over the impressive clashes of shooting. With her one open eye she saw the decaying face and smelled the foulness of its rotting body, the nauseating stench that rolled off her in waves.
All seemed lost, death seemed certain when a blur speed along the tunnel and collided with the vampire. There were sounds of cracking bones and snapping jaws until with an almighty and decisive 'sprrraack!' the head was wrenched free, rolling past Barry's feet and eventually into the sewerage.
Who stood was completely unexpected. "Jill?"
She looked the same as ever with nary a scratch, except for the weirdly glowing eyes and splatters of blood on her clothes. Her smile was also much more disturbing.
She seemed to leer at the group, showing those long fangs and approaching confidently. Barry prepared to shoot the thing that had stolen Jill's body when it stopped moving.
"Barry?" it said, in tones of anxiety.
Claire and Sena's father came dashing down the tunnel. Claire ran desperately, vaulting over the headless corpse without even glancing at it. James surveyed it with mixed horror and distaste before noticing his daughter. He smiled warmly at her and gave her a gentle hug.
The joyful reunion was broken short by the growing tension.
Claire shrugged at their puzzled glances and questioning faces. "She attacked us earlier."
"What?" Barry growled, 'She attacked you?" he turned to Chris, "we can't trust her."
"Please don't talk about me as if I'm not here1' the thing screeched. Sena looked at Jill with pity. Her purple eyes reminded her strongly of Uncle Al's glowing glasses, though she couldn't think why.
"She's not herself," Claire explained.
Jill looked at her comrades with fear and disbelief. They gazed back with distrust and open hostility. "What's going on?" she whispered, not really expecting an answer from these 'strangers'.
James tightened his hold on Sena, severely limiting her oxygen supply. "She doesn't seem to know she's uh..."
"A vampire?" Barry supplied, eying the creature that had, in theory, killed one of his best friends.
"What?" Jill cried. Her head jerked up and searched his face for the twist of a smile that would tell her it was some cruel joke. All she saw was hate and despair. Her eyes glowed in her confusion and she found herself aware of the metallic tang of blood in the air.
She traced it to its source, the bundle on Chris's shoulder that was Ben. "Is he okay?" she asked hesitantly, not failing to notice the guns that had been turned on her when her eyes had glowed and she'd sniffed the air.
"He needs to go to hospital now," Rebecca replied bluntly, radiating anger. "He's lost a lot of blood; which I guess is what you can smell." He face blanched as she realised what she'd said but she showed no signs of apologising.
The jibe meant for Jill's species, not her personally, struck deep. Mixed with the fear, aggression and unease that she felt from her team-mates and the children she seemed to shut down.
Her face became hard and emotionless, her stance became tense and alert. The virus that was almost like a separate entity began goading her, strengthened by her emotions and the scent of blood.
See? Her virus consoled her smugly; they can't accept anyone with a virus. Without even talking to you they assume you're dangerous. You have your own reactions and personality but no, you've got a virus, now you're amongst the ranks of the enemy. They'll kill you.
Looking at the STARS expressions, Jill didn't doubt this. What do I do? She asked silently.
Be helpful; get the boy to 'hospital'. Then ditch him on the way, or eat him. Yes, we could do with some food... then you'll get away from them and can contact the others.
The others?
Yes, the others like you. They'll help us kill them all, have a banquet even!
Jill nodded.
"I can find a way out," she said coldly. "I do have an interesting sense of smell when it comes to finding fresh air and my eyes can pick up any change in light."
Automatically the STARS began shaking their heads and making sounds of dissent. "I'm sorry Jill," Chris said tiredly, "but there's no way for us to know if we can trust you as a vampire."
She approached Rebecca, who shied away slightly. "How long does he have?"
Rebecca looked at her with distrust, and then at Chris and Ben. "Not very long."
"This is the only chance he'll get," Jill said, lifting Ben gently off Chris's shoulder and taking him into a fireman's life. "I'll be going fast and you won't be able to keep up, so I wouldn't bother."
"I managed to keep with Unc- Wesker," Sena said timidly, "and he supposedly has a virus."
"There's no supposedly about it," grumbled Barry, glaring at Jill as if his treachery was her fault.
Jill was too busy staring at Sena and inwardly cursing her to notice. "It'll be too dark; I have no torch," she told her, trying to persuade her not to come.
Sena merely shrugged. "Then it'll be like before. I can open grates and stuff for you, stuff you won't be able to do when you're carrying Ben."
Jill was about to refuse when she noticed the STARS preparing to do the same thing. They didn't trust her with the two children. And there was some annoying logic in Sena's thinking, that is, assuming she actually wanted to take him anywhere.
"Sure," she said before anyone else could object. She grabbed Sena and pulled her down the tunnel, deaf to the protesting cries behind her.
James looked appealingly at Chris and Barry. "You just can leave them like this!"
Barry returned his gaze. "We don't have any choice. Jill was our friend; she might be able to keep her memories and values as a vampire and take Ben and Sena to the hospital. If she doesn't... well, then she'll probably..."
He trailed off, staring at the man who had shrunk in size after the 'disappearance' of his daughter,
"I guess we have to go after them either way," he told Chris.
Chris nodded glumly, annoyed at Barry's prejudice and Rebecca's rudeness towards Jill. "I guess so."
They left down the tunnel, going as fast as they could.
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Okay, so there it is! I hope the reactions are believable enough and all. Squee! Am watching the Oscars1 Go Lord of the Rings and Keisha Castle-Hughes!
REVIEW PLEASE! ^_^ it'll make me happy!