42: Journey's End
They were dead. She'd come all this way, faced terrible dangers and put herself and her friends in mortal peril several times over, and all for nothing. All her efforts to find her mother and father had been in vain. Her bright, witty father and her overprotective but loving mother, two unique and brilliant people, had been reduced by the T-Virus to shambling, mindless corpses, mere shadows of their former living selves - all because she hadn't got here sooner. She was too late, and now she'd lost her parents forever.
She'd failed.
Jack and the others watched helplessly as the two Dr Hartleys reached out towards their daughter. This twisted family reunion was far worse than anything they had experienced today, including their pitched final battle with Lucifer. Lisa's last remnants of hope had been cruelly snatched away, and her suffering was almost unbearable to watch.
"Lisa, we're so sorry," said Dr Harlech in a near-whisper. "We really are."
"Self-destruct in seven minutes."
"I was too late," said Lisa, shaking her head. Tears were rolling down her face, and she shook with the effort of keeping back her sobs. "I was too late - I didn't get here in time, and now they're dead! My mom and dad are dead!"
She could control herself no longer, and burst into tears as numbness gave way to inconsolable grief, the same grief that had overcome her as Jack lay dying upstairs. She was sobbing so hard that it hurt, but the unbearable sense of loss was far, far worse; her chest would stop hurting in time, but she knew only too well that the heartache would never go away.
The others shifted uncomfortably. There were only seven minutes left before the spot where they were standing would be blown to smithereens, along with the rest of the Umbrella building, and there were only two zombies standing in their way, but they were powerless to act. Renée moved her assault rifle, readying it for combat once again, but Amber laid a warning hand on her shoulder, and Dr Harlech brought down a warning foot on her toes.
"Ow!"
"Don't you dare!" hissed Dr Harlech. "You have no right to do that!"
"But they're dead - ow!"
"No!"
"Fine! She can do it!"
Renée tapped Lisa on the shoulder and proffered the weapon with a meaningful nod in the direction of the late Drs Jonathan and Elizabeth Hartley. Lisa shrank away from it in horror.
"No, I can't!" she cried. "I can't kill my parents!"
"Lisa, it's our only way out! You have to!" Renée ordered.
"No! They're my mom and dad!"
"They don't know that! They'll kill you, and the rest of us with you!"
"Shut up!" yelled Lisa.
"Lisa, you - " Amber began.
"You shut up too!" screamed Lisa. "I don't care what you say, I can't do it! I just can't!"
"Lisa, we have to get out of here or we're going to die," said Dr Harlech quietly. "We have to leave now, but we can't go until - until they're gone. I'm sorry, and I know how hard this must be for you, but it has to be done. You have to survive; it's what your mom and dad would want. You know that."
Hot tears streamed down Lisa's face as she bowed her head.
"I know," she murmured. "But I can't leave them here… not like this…"
"Lisa, your parents loved you and they would have wanted you to survive, no matter what - even if it meant leaving them behind," said Dr Harlech. "And if you love them, then don't leave them like this. Help them to rest in peace now that they're dead."
"Self-destruct in six minutes."
Lisa's gaze flickered towards the assault rifle in Renée's hands. Slowly, reluctantly, she handed the hamster cage over to Dr Harlech and turned towards the mercenary.
"Lise, if you want, I do it," said Jack gently, reaching out towards her and touching her hand. "I know you love you dad an' mama, an' you dunt wanna kill 'em. Let me do it so you dunt have to."
"No," said Lisa, moving her hand away from his. "No, Jack, I have to do it."
I don't want to do this, she thought, but if I let you do it, then I'll look at you every day and remember that you killed my parents. I don't want that. It's not fair for me to expect you to do it for me and take the responsibility - take the blame. If their blood has to be on anybody's hands, here and now, then let it be on mine.
Jack nodded solemnly.
"Okay," he said.
Lisa laid her hands on the warm, smooth metal of the assault rifle. She picked it up, and turned towards her parents with a heavy heart. For a moment, she stared at the people that she'd loved for so long, mostly without realising it. She thought briefly of long summer days and happy memories spent playing in the back yard of her house, when the world was wide, her parents were happy and everything was perfect and beautiful.
Those days were gone. They'd never come back. Here and now was nothing but misery, pain and suffering. She had to end it.
Hands shaking, she took aim carefully, aiming the barrel of the rifle right at the chests of her parents' walking corpses. She wondered at first how on earth she could bring herself to do this, how she could ever have enough violence and anger inside her to kill her own parents, even if they were already dead, but then she thought of a word that suddenly suffused her entire body with vicious red rage.
Umbrella.
They did this. They killed my parents. They killed everybody - but not us. We're going to survive, and we're going to make them pay… it's what Mom and Dad would have wanted.
"Lisa, there's no more time," said Dr Harlech. "You have to do it now."Lisa nodded silently. She took a deep breath, drinking in the cold air. Her finger curled around the trigger as she took one last look at her parents.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, closing her eyes.
She turned her back on the two zombies walking towards her - then whirled round with a scream and pulled the trigger, holding it down as hard as she could. Bullets poured out in a non-stop stream of lead and sank deep into cold, dead flesh, hitting the reanimated bodies of her parents with such force that they jerked and twitched in a macabre dance of death.
Still screaming, ignoring the tears rolling down her cheeks, Lisa held down the trigger until both of her dead parents doubled up and slumped to the ground with low groans, their bodies riddled with bullets. Even then, she kept firing until the last of the ammunition ran out; her parents' bodies finally stopped twitching, and lay still.
Lisa stood there for a moment, panting for breath, then let out a howl of anguish and collapsed, sobbing, in a heap on the floor. Jack knelt down beside her, intending to comfort her, but was almost knocked backwards as Lisa threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder, her whole body racked with violent sobs.
"'m so sorry, Lise," he said, hugging her tightly and biting down on his lip. Seeing Lisa so distraught was torture, although he knew that it was nothing compared to what she'd just had to go through. However, it was a strange relief to finally know what had happened to the Hartleys. At least now, he told himself, Lisa could move on.
"Attention all Umbrella employees," announced the robotic female voice, with barely disguised glee. "The emergency biohazard contamination prevention system has been activated - the building will automatically self-destruct in five minutes."
The rest of the announcement went unnoticed as Renée grabbed her assault rifle and slung it onto her shoulder. At the same time, Amber and Dr Harlech took Lisa by the shoulders, picking her up off the floor and propelling her gently but firmly towards the door, with Jack holding her hand tightly for reassurance.
"Well done, honey, we're really proud of you," said Amber hurriedly, as they ushered the weeping girl through the door and out onto a vast underground train platform. A rusting train sat on the tracks, ready and waiting for its passengers.
"Yeah, what you did was really hard," agreed Renée, gently steering Lisa past some boxes and towards the waiting train. "But you did it, and we're all very proud of you."
"We're really sorry about your parents, Lisa," said Dr Harlech. "We all know how much you wanted to find them again. I just wish things could have turned out differently."
They pulled open the door of the train car and helped Lisa and Jack up into the train. Dr Harlech handed back the hamster cage to Lisa, who nodded in a silent gesture of thanks and clutched the cage tightly to her chest.
"Jack, stay with her," ordered Amber. "Clarissa and I are going to make sure the power's on. Renée's going to the front of the train so she can work out how to drive it."
"You can drive trains too?" said Jack, astounded by the discovery of yet another skill in Renée's already large repetoire of unexpected knowledge.
"Yep," said Renée, grinning. "My dad used to be a train driver before he got a job at the factory. When I was little, he used to let me sit up front in the train with him and watch him work, so I know a few things…"
With this, she darted away, and Jack watched her as she ran along the platform towards the front of the train. Renée pulled open a door, hopping into the train and out of sight. Dr Harlech and Amber were already some yards away, arguing over whether they thought a particular switch was meant to be in the correct position.
Behind him, Lisa was still crying. Jack turned round and guided her towards one of the comfortable-looking leather seats, then sat down beside her and held her hand.
"Sorry things hadda turn out this way, Lise," he said awkwardly. "I know you parents dint like me much, but I be sorry they dint make it. You dint deserve to lose 'em."
Lisa, sniffling loudly, shook her head as she bent down and placed the hamster cage on the floor.
"But things gonna be okay now," said Jack reassuringly, squeezing her hand. "At least you know what happen to 'em now - an' we can go kick some Umbrella ass together. That oughta teach those pendejos to take you parents an' my Aunt Rosa away from us, huh?"
Lisa made an effort to smile, and she wiped her eyes.
"Thank you, Jack," she said. "Thank you for helping me find my parents. I couldn't have done it without you."
"Sure you could," said Jack.
"No, I couldn't," said Lisa earnestly. "I would have been killed about five times over if it hadn't been for you. You were there for me when I needed you, and you kept me safe."
"Well, that be what amigos be for, right?" said Jack.
"Right," agreed Lisa, and wiped her eyes again.
"Self-destruct in four minutes," said the automated voice, muffled from distance and the thickness of the train walls, but nevertheless audible. Outside they could hear Amber and Dr Harlech's squabbling increase in volume and pitch, and then came the sound of something metallic grinding further ahead, presumably the result of Renée experimenting with the controls.
"Gracias for doin' the same for me," said Jack, after a moment's pause for thought. "I woulda died if you dint find a cure."
"Oh, come on, Jack, I couldn't let you die," said Lisa, smiling through her tears. "You're my best friend, and you mean everything to me. You know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know," said Jack, putting on a brave smile to hide his sinking heart.
Best friend, he thought. I love her so much, but she still think "best friend". Damn! I shoulda known she dint mean it when she say she love me back there. She prob'ly only say it 'cause I be dyin' an' she get caught up in the moment. An' now that I ain't dyin' no more, it be back to "best friends".
But still there was a nagging suspicion at the back of his mind. What if she really had meant it? Maybe she was too shy to say it under any circumstances except the most desperate, when she thought she'd never have the chance to say it again.
What if she mean it? I have to know…
"Lise?" he said timidly.
"Yes, Jack?" said Lisa.
"Lise, when I - "
Jack faltered under her gaze. He knew what he had to say, but saying it to her face was so hard. She seemed to drink in every word, not just the ones spoken aloud but the ones in his head, so that when he wanted to say something important like this, the words vanished and he was left with a blank space in his mind where the power to form coherent sentences should have been.
Nevertheless, these words had to be said. Jack concentrated hard, and tried again.
"When I - you know back there, when I tell you I - I love you?" he said nervously. "Did you…?"
He lowered his head, suddenly unable to look her in the eye; Lisa caught his expression, and knew right away what he was trying to say.
"Did I really mean it?" she prompted, and Jack nodded.
"Yeah," he said, his cheeks reddening slightly with embarrassment.
"Well, I - " Lisa began, and to her astonishment she found herself blushing too. "Jack, I - I know you probably think that I said it because I knew you were dying and I didn't want to disappoint you, but - I meant it, Jack, I meant every word, I really did. And I still do."
A couple of moments ago, Jack had been trying to hide his disappointment; now it was all he could do to conceal his delight. He contented himself with a very emphatic nod.
"I know," he said.
The peaceful little interlude was shattered by the sound of the door slamming back on its hinges. Amber and Dr Harlech burst in through the door and threw themselves onto the train, slamming the door behind them.
"Time to go!" gasped Amber.
"Do you think we'll make it in time?" said Dr Harlech anxiously, looking around for a clock but not finding one.
"I don't know, but I think we're about to find out…" Amber replied.
"Self-destruct in three minutes," announced the voice, whose presence the entire group was really beginning to resent.
The two women looked at each other.
"We're doomed."
"Yep. Definitely."
They got to their feet and charged up the aisle of the car towards the front of the train, yelling for Renée. Lisa and Jack got up from their seats and followed them through another car to the front of the train, where Renée was sitting in the driver's seat and fiddling with a set of switches.
"This is so cool… I've always wanted to drive a train!"
"Renée, what the hell are you doing? We have to get out of here!" yelled Dr Harlech.
"Keep your hair on, doc," said Renée lazily. "I'm almost done."
She flicked a switch, which produced a loud clunk and a drawn-out metallic groan.
"What was that?" said Lisa, looking around. "That didn't sound good."
"Don't worry, guys, I've got everything under control here," Renée assured them.
She grabbed hold of a large lever near the control panel and pulled it towards her, then pushed a button on her right, leaving a shiny patch of red plastic in the thick coating of grey dust. There was another groan, and then they felt the train start to roll forward.
Renée picked up a microphone from its resting place above the window, blew away the coating of dust, and announced:
"Good morning, everybody - my name's Renée and I'll be your driver for today. Our destination today is currently unknown, but hell, who cares, anywhere's better than Raccoon City. Now, I have a couple of important announcements to make. Firstly, smoking is not permitted anywhere on this train, although passive smoking is probably the least of our worries right now. Secondly, everyone must bow down to me and my awesome driving skills, and thank me profusely at the end of this trip for saving their sorry asses. Thirdly - "
Renée paused for effect, then turned around to look at the others and said meaningfully:
" - could all passengers please get back to your damn seats and stop bothering me, or I'll crash the train into a wall on purpose, just to annoy you. That will be all. Thank you for riding Renée Railways - like you had any other choice."
Renée replaced the microphone and sat down again.
"Heh… I always wanted to do that," she said, grinning.
She returned her attention to the control panel, and a sudden look of surprise crossed her face.
"Well, what do you know?" she said, looking surprised. "It's all automated - you just push the buttons and off it goes. That's a weight off my mind, anyway. At least I won't have to work out which way I'm meant to be going."
"Self-destruct in two minutes," they heard the voice announce as the train finally pulled away from the platform, its speed slowly increasing.
"We're not going to make it…" said Dr Harlech, biting down on her left thumbnail and chewing it nervously.
"Yes, we are," said Renée.
Leaving the platform behind, the train entered a long, dark tunnel that seemed to go on forever. The headlights of the train cast a dim glow before them, the rest of the light swallowed up in the utter blackness of the tunnel. Slowly but inexorably, the train began to speed up.
"We're not going to make it," repeated Dr Harlech, a little indistinctly because of her thumb.
"Yes, we are," Renée told her.
The train rumbled on through the darkness, and the tension inside the driver's compartment seemed to thicken with the passing of every second. Even Renée seemed to be slightly on edge.
The dead silence was suddenly broken by a tiny little snap. The others looked round to see Dr Harlech staring in shock at her left thumbnail; she'd chewed the end of the nail right off, and now it was exactly the same length as her other nails.
"We're not going to make it!" she burst out.
"Yes, we are!" said Renée, gritting her teeth. "We're going to make it!"
"Warning," said the robotic voice, echoing through the tunnel. "Self-destruct in sixty seconds. Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight. Fifty-seven. Fifty-six…"
Lisa stared at the rectangular window, the only thing standing between them and the darkness, and she reached out for Jack's hand.
Goodbye, Mom and Dad. I'm sorry. I always loved you. I only wish I'd been able to understand what you went through to keep me safe… please forgive me.
"Forty-eight. Forty-seven. Forty-six. Forty-five…"
Jack took Lisa's hand without a word, his fingers interlocking with hers and gently squeezing her hand for what little comfort and reassurance it would provide for them both.
Adios, Aunt Rosa. Marco, Alena, Almond, all my amigos y amigas… I gonna miss you always. But I know you always gonna be with me, the same way my mama always be with me, even though she be dead a long time. I never gonna forget you.
"Thirty-nine. Thirty-eight. Thirty-seven…"
Amber stood and stared blankly out of the window, reflecting on the injustice of their situation.
Other people died because of Umbrella. We lived despite Umbrella. We were the lucky ones. But we've paid a heavy price for survival; we've lost everything but our lives. All we have are the clothes on our backs and proof that Umbrella was responsible for our suffering. But one day, we'll have our revenge. Umbrella won't get away with what it's done to me, to Joseph, to everyone in Raccoon City. I won't let them!
"Twenty-six. Twenty-five…"
Dr Harlech stood in an unhappy little circle of silence, staring at her lost fingernails and remembering the last three years of her life.
Three years wasted in Umbrella's service, with nothing to show for it but guilt and no fingernails. But I'm no longer a part of Umbrella, and there's nothing they can do to punish me for leaving. They've already taken away my home, murdered my colleagues, corrupted my sister and tried to have me killed. But I survived, and I don't need Umbrella any more. What's more, I'm going to make sure that other blameless employees don't have to suffer in silence like I did. Umbrella mustn't be allowed to hurt anyone else.
"Eighteen…"
Renée sat in the driver's seat, idly writing her name in the dust on the control panel and watching swathes of dark tunnel rush past the window as the train ran faster and faster, taking them further away with every passing second.Umbrella sucks. Thanks to them, a hundred thousand people are dead, including all my fellow soldiers. Good men died because of Umbrella's sick experiments, and for what? For a few dollars an hour? For the price of keeping their families safe? Even Christina is dead now, and she'd survived everything else that life could throw at her. I'm the only one left. One, out of dozens and dozens of people… it's sick, how they play with people's lives, like we don't even matter… but I'll show them. All of us, we'll show them that people like us matter, and we'll kick their big corporate ass right the way down Wall Street! We shall overcome!
Faster and faster, picking up speed all the time, the rusty old train rattled down the tunnel, the final countdown to destruction ringing in its passengers' ears:"Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven…"
There was nothing but darkness ahead of them, and it seemed to the five people inside the train that there was no hope of escape.
"This is it," said Dr Harlech gloomily. "We're dead. We are so dead."
"We are so not dead!" snarled Renée, flicking every switch and pushing every button in sight, turning dials and pulling levers with all her might. "Not now!"
"Ten," announced the voice. "Nine. Eight. Seven. Six..."
Whether or not it was something that Renée had touched, they didn't know, but the train suddenly put on an extra burst of speed, racing through the tunnel so fast that everything seen from the windows was little more than a dark blur.And then they saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Yes! Come on!" Renée yelled, urging the train to go faster.
"Five… four..."
The train sped towards the faint patch of dark blue light at the end of the tunnel. It was coming closer now, so close that they could almost reach out and touch it…
"Three… two… one…"
"Come on, come on, come on!"
"Zero…"
The train shot out of the tunnel with a roar, like a bullet from a gun, emerging just in time for a massive explosion to rip away all sound from their ears, rock the train on its rails and make the world turn white. Lisa, Jack and the others closed their eyes…
… and then opened them again, cautiously feeling their faces, unable to believe that they could possibly have cheated death yet again. When they'd recovered sufficiently to understand that yes, they really had survived, they all got up and rushed towards the back of the train, throwing open a door at the end of the final car and running out onto the open-air platform.
They leaned on the railings and watched as the explosion behind them bloomed like an enormous flower with fiery petals of orange and deepest black, tinged at its heart with bright yellow. In the dark blue light of impending dawn, it was a strangely beautiful sight.
The wind whipped through their hair as they watched the explosion consume the Umbrella building from within, utterly engulfing the towering office block in clouds of smoke and fire. When the explosion began to clear, they could see the smoking ruins of the building collapsing, floor by floor, into a smouldering heap of rubble.
"Ha!" yelled Amber, pointing to what remained of the Umbrella building. "You suck!"
"I can't believe it!" Dr Harlech was besides herself with joy. "We survived! I thought we were dead for sure, but we survived!"
"And we got to see an Umbrella building blow up!" exclaimed Renée, jumping up and down like a small, excitable child. "Explosions are cool! We should blow up Umbrella's property more often!"
Laughing with delight and the sheer relief of having survived to see another day, the three women hugged each other in turn, then turned their attentions to Lisa and Jack, hugging the two teenagers tightly. When they finally settled down, they decided that it was too cold to be standing outside at four in the morning. They went back through the open door and into the warmth of the train, closing the door behind them.
When they had finally gone, Lisa and Jack looked at the last clouds of smoke and dust rising from the spot where the Umbrella building had once stood, then looked at each other, and smiled.
"It's over," said Lisa, breathing out. "It's finally over."
"Yeah," said Jack. "I guess so."
Suddenly, horribly aware that saying these words might have conjured up something dreadful, they looked around quickly, then realised the utter ridiculousness of what they were doing and burst out laughing.
"That's when you know it really is over," said Lisa, still laughing. "When nothing jumps out at you after you've said something foreboding."
"Yeah…"
They looked around again, burst out laughing a second time, and then threw their arms around each other in a hug.
"It's good to be alive," said Lisa, nestling her head on Jack's shoulder.
"'s just good to be with you," murmured Jack, and on a sudden impulse, he kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Lise."
Lisa looked up at him and took a step backwards, and Jack's heart caught in his throat - maybe it had been a mistake to do that, he thought, starting to panic - but then she smiled warmly, banishing his doubts.
"I love you too, Jack," she said.
She stepped forward again, reaching out to touch his face and stroking his cheek gently. Jack started slightly, taken aback at first by this unexpected show of affection, but then he cast away his reservations and decided to enjoy the moment while it lasted. He wasn't sure if this was really happening to him, or whether this was a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep; either way, he didn't care. Lisa had told him that she loved him. That was all that mattered.
He put one arm around Lisa, and then the other, drawing her closer to him. Lisa slid her arms around his neck, looking up at him and smiling contentedly.
With the slightest of efforts, Jack moved his face a little closer to hers. A little closer again, and again, until all he could see or hear or feel was Lisa. Her scent, her warmth, her heartbeat; there was nothing else but her.
Jack closed his eyes, and slowly brought his mouth to hers.
A kiss might have seemed like the most simple and ordinary thing that could have happened to Lisa and Jack in the past twenty-four hours. To Lisa and Jack, however, it was the most extraordinary event of all, simply because neither of them had thought it would ever happen.
Even though they both felt ready to drop dead with exhaustion, they nevertheless felt more alive in this one moment than they had ever done before, as if their first kiss was somehow breathing life into them both. Pain, fear, sorrow; all of it suddenly paled away into insignificance, melting away with the terrors of the night as the city rushed past them and the sky above them gradually lightened in hue.
Parting from Jack rather reluctantly, Lisa said nothing, not wanting to spoil the moment; instead she merely smiled, and let him hold her as they watched the outskirts of Raccoon City slowly receding into the distance.
Farewell to our lives. Farewell to our homes. Farewell to those we loved and lost, and had to leave behind. But this isn't the end - far from it. This is a new beginning for all of us.
They stood there and watched until the last few buildings had faded out of sight, then turned away and went back into the train.
Warmth hit them like a soft pillow to the head as they re-entered the car. After the cool morning air, it made them both feel drowsy. Ahead of them, sprawled across the comfortable seats that lined the walls of the train, were Amber, Renée and Dr Harlech, quietly discussing something amongst themselves. Between them lay Amber's open briefcase and an untidy drift of papers and diaries, which they were poring over industriously.
"Oh," said Lisa, remembering what was in her backpack. "Amber, you might want to have a look at these if you're going over the paperwork."
She took off her backpack, pulling out Dr Hazlitt's memo and her parents' diaries. She handed them over to Amber.
"Thanks, Lisa," said Amber, placing them in the pile. "I'll take a look at those in a minute."
Lisa nodded, and let her eyes wander over to the hamster cage. Its occupants were apparently doing well despite the trauma of the last few hours; the two little hamsters looked quite content with their lot in life, especially now that they were somewhere warm and safe again. One of them was nibbling gently on the edge of the red bandanna that she'd wrapped around the cage handle.
"We oughta think of names for 'em," suggested Jack, as Lisa untied the bandanna.
"Yes, we should," said Lisa vaguely. "Maybe tomorrow…"
She yawned hugely.
"It be tomorrow already, Lise," said Jack, laughing.
"Later, then. I'm tired."
Lisa dropped the red bandanna onto Amber's pile of paperwork and made her way towards the seats lining the other side of the train. She sat next to Jack, who was slouching comfortably, and rested her head gently on his shoulder; he hugged her again, and kissed her on the forehead.
Amber had picked up the bandanna and was staring at it in shock. Dr Harlech and Renée looked up from the papers they were reading and saw her turning it over and over in her hands.
"Amber, what is it?" said Renée.
Amber stared at them both for a moment, then burst into floods of tears.
"This was Joseph's lucky bandanna!" she wailed. "He wore it every time he went on a mission! He was w-wearing it the last time I saw him - the last time I ever saw him alive! The night he - he - the night he died!"
The two former Umbrella employees looked slightly startled to find a police officer throwing herself into their arms with a loud sob, particularly one who despised anything and everything to do with the company responsible for her boyfriend's death, but they did their best to comfort her nonetheless.
"Amber, don't cry…"
"It'll be all right…"
"I'll get them!" Amber sobbed. "I'll get them if it's the last thing I ever do!"
"So will we, Amber," promised Dr Harlech. "We're going make them pay for what they've done to us."
"We'll make them pay for what they've done to all of us - right, kids?" said Renée.
They looked around.
"Kids?" repeated Renée, blinking.
But Jack and Lisa were oblivious to what was happening around them. The comfortable leather seats, the warm air, and the rushing sound and motion of the train running along the tracks had lulled them both into a sound sleep.
xxxxxxxxxx
"… what do you mean, a slight problem?"
The sound of Amber's voice raised to fever pitch was enough to rouse Lisa from her deep sleep. She raised her head blearily, opening her eyes as best she could, but then she sank back down, still exhausted from her ordeal.
Beside her, Jack stirred slightly but didn't wake up.
Lucky you, thought Lisa, wincing as she raised her head again and felt her skin peel away from the leather seat covering. I guess you can sleep through anything…
Through the crust of sleep that gummed her eyelashes together, she could just make out Amber gesticulating wildly at Renée, who had shrunk back against the wall and was looking defensive.
"Well, don't blame me!" she heard the young mercenary protest. "It's not my fault! This train's running on automatic, remember?"
"Okay, fine. So where is this thing heading?" said Amber, calming down a little.
Renée mumbled something that was unintelligible to Lisa, but Amber and Dr Harlech had obviously heard what she said, because they both shrieked:
"What?"
"I said, it's going to Rose Bay City!" said Renée, much louder. "And it really isn't my fault! Look, you think I want to go there now that I'm meant to be missing, presumed dead? No, of course I don't! But it looks like we don't have much choice!"
Lisa sat up, rubbing her eyes. She could see much more clearly now. Bright sunlight was streaming in through the windows of the train, glinting off the bars of the hamster cage and the locks on Amber's briefcase, and shining down on the now all-too-common sight of her fellow survivors arguing fiercely with each other.
"Well, we'll have to find a choice, won't we? We can't go to Rose Bay City!"
"I'm well aware of that, but what do you think we can do about it?"
"I don't know, but we'd better think of something! We're halfway there already!"
"What's happening?" said Lisa sleepily, yawning and sitting up.
Dr Harlech, Renée and Amber all turned round to look at her in surprise; they hadn't expected either Jack or Lisa to be awake yet. Nevertheless, they set aside their discussion for the time being and greeted Lisa with pleasant, if slightly sheepish smiles.
"Morning, Lisa," said Renée brightly. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," said Lisa. "Really tired. What time is it?"
"Oh, about eight in the morning," said Renée, checking her watch. "Eight-oh-two and thirty-eight seconds, to be precise."
"Did any of you get any sleep?" Lisa enquired.
Renée shook her head.
"Nope," she said, with an extra edge of perkiness in her voice.
"You have no right to sound that happy at this time in the morning," said Lisa accusingly.
"Oscar Wilde once said that only dull people are brilliant at breakfast," agreed Dr Harlech.
"Oscar Wilde said a lot of things," said Renée dismissively.
"Including that," Dr Harlech pointed out.
"Hmm," said Renée. "Just as well I skipped breakfast, then."
"So… what's going on?" asked Lisa.
"Put it like this," Renée explained. "This train is almost fully automated. That's why it's driving itself - I don't need to control it. But the problem with not really needing to control it is that I can't control it, and so I can't control where it's going."
"The train's not out of control, is it?" said Lisa, feeling her heart start to pound faster in her chest.
"No, no," said Renée breezily. "Not that. No, the problem is that we're currently on our way to the Umbrella company train depot just outside Rose Bay City."
"Umbrella? But they'll kill us!" cried Lisa.
"Precisely," said Renée. "And therein lies our predicament."
"What are we going to do?" said Dr Harlech, automatically raising her fingers to her mouth, before remembering that she didn't have any fingernails left to chew, and letting her hands drop down to her sides again.
"We're going to have to stop the train," said Amber grimly.
"What? Are you crazy? We're in the middle of the desert, Amber!" cried Dr Harlech. "You know, desert? With the sand and heat and vultures and death and stuff? We can't do that! We'll die of thirst! Or vultures! Or both!"
"Calm down, Clarissa. We'll work something out," said Amber. "Is there a map somewhere that we can look at?"
"I think I saw one in the driver's compartment," said Renée, heading towards the door.
Lisa sat back in her seat and watched as the three women traipsed down the aisle of the train in search of reliable cartography. When they were out of sight, she turned her attention to the sleeping form of Jack.
"Jack," she said softly, and nudged him. "Jack, wake up."
"Hmm…?"
Jack's eyelids fluttered open. He blinked a few times, looked around, then sat up.
"Are we there yet?" he said, yawning.
"No, not yet," said Lisa. "In fact, we're still trying to work out where "there" is going to be. It might be the middle of the desert if Amber's to be believed."
Jack's forehead creased with confusion.
"Huh?" he said slowly. "What you talkin' 'bout, Lise?"
"We're headed for a place called Rose Bay City," Lisa told him. "Umbrella's got a train depot there, and we don't think they're going to be terribly happy about us showing up on their doorstep. We're looking for somewhere else to go."
"Oh," said Jack, looking slightly more enlightened. "Right."
Renée returned shortly afterwards with an oversized and rather dusty map of the state flapping around her like the wings of a strange butterfly. Amber and Dr Harlech trailed behind her, trying without success to read the map over Renée's shoulders.
"Get off, will you?" said Renée rather irritably. Kneeling down, she laid the map on the floor of the train car and spread it out, smoothing out the folds and creases until it was flat.
"Okay," she said, as the others gathered around to look. "This is a map of the Arklay mountain region. Behold, the Arklay mountains."
They stared at the mass of brown shading and contour lines that represented the Arklay mountains, surrounded and half-covered by the nebulous dark green area that represented Raccoon Forest. Amid the dark green was an irregularly-shaped white box set in an area of lighter green - this was marked "Spencer Mansion Estate". Further up, next to a symbol that, according to the key, represented a bridge spanning the Marble River Gorge, was a pair of white boxes marked "Umbrella Management Training Facility" and "Chapel". There was a black line - "railroad" - leading past these two buildings.
Amber repressed a shudder as she saw these markings. These seemingly innocent little white boxes and markings represented places of unimaginable horror where her closest friends had suffered and died.
"And - "
"Hey, look," interrupted Dr Harlech, pointing to a small cluster of markings high up in the mountains. "I can see my house from up here!"
"You live there?" said Amber, gaping. "Just how much did you say you earned per annum, Clarissa?"
"Not enough," said Dr Harlech with a sigh. "It's not actually a house; it's an apartment, but a very nice one. It belonged to my parents - we used to live in Arklay - and they left it to us in their will. My sister didn't want it, she was earning much more than me and she had a nice house in uptown, plus a summer home somewhere else in the mountains, so she let me have it as a little pied-à-terre, for when I wasn't working. Needless to say, I haven't seen the place in years. It's probably covered in dust by now. Hell, the dust is probably covered in dust by now."
"Lucky you," said Amber enviously. "I could barely afford an apartment in downtown, let alone a place in Arklay. I always wanted to live there."
"Arklay's overrated," said Dr Harlech dismissively. "Not much more than a fading ski resort slowly sinking into obscurity. And it's always cold there. It's always snowing or raining."
"Still," said Amber, looking impressed. "Your parents must have been pretty rich, huh?"
"Yeah," said Dr Harlech, and bitterness suddenly clouded her face. "They had plenty of money, but only for my sister. They paid for Linda to go to an Ivy-League university and gave her all the money she wanted, but they made me support myself right the way through medical school - they wouldn't give me a penny. I guess it taught me to be independent, though. I'm only sorry I allowed myself to become so dependent on Umbrella… next time I'm definitely reading the small print at the bottom of my contract."
"Ahem," said Renée, with a meaningful cough. "Not that Memory Lane isn't nice to wander down every now and then, but we're currently headed along the Railroad of Doom towards the Umbrella Depot of… uh, More Doom. Which is way more important to us right now than childhood memories. Now shut up and let me work this out."
Dr Harlech and Amber fell silent.
"Thank you," said Renée. "Now, here we have Raccoon City - " she pointed to a large grey and green urban sprawl with dozens of tiny white boxes and markings like "Hospital" and "Clock Tower", then she moved her finger right across a distressingly empty expanse of map and stabbed it triumphantly on another, slightly smaller area of grey with some white boxes - "and here is Rose Bay City."
They stared. In between the two towns was a long black line - the railroad - and an awful lot of sandy-coloured nothingness.
"Well," said Lisa brightly, pointing to a very small blob of grey in the middle of the sandy-coloured nothingness. "There's a town over there, look. Willowherb. We could jump off the train and walk there, and we'd be there by - "
"Midnight tomorrow," supplied Dr Harlech.
"Yes, and it's only - "
"Seventeen miles away," said Renée flatly.
"In the desert," said Dr Harlech.
"In the wrong direction," said Amber.
"Lisa, we already passed Willowherb," said Renée. "It's no good to us."
"I give up, then," said Lisa, sighing. "What are we going to do?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Hey," said Jack suddenly, pointing to something on the map. "You see that?"
"See what?" said Renée, suddenly interested, and she pushed aside his finger to see what he was looking at. When she saw the small marking beside the long black line of the railroad, however, she sighed and shook her head.
"That symbol stands for an old water tower, Jack. It's nothing special."
"No, next to it," Jack persisted. "You see it?"
Renée peered closely at the map. Aside from some grey smears where she'd brushed off the dust while smoothing out the map, she couldn't see anything next to the old water tower.
"No, I don't - hey, wait a minute," she said, squinting. "I think I can see something…"
She carefully wiped away the remaining smears of dust, and uncovered a hidden treasure - a tiny cluster of white boxes at the end of a faint brown line, set some way back from the railroad. It was marked "Tumbleweed".
"Well done, Jack," she said, giving him a long, appraising look. "I think you just found our next destination…"
Renée stood up.
"Attention all passengers," she announced. "There has been a slight change to our itinerary for today - the 4 a.m. train to Rose Bay City will now be terminating at Tumbleweed, because the driver doesn't think that getting shot by Umbrella's security guards at the Rose Bay City depot is her idea of a rewarding experience. Please remain seated, and brace for impact!"
She scurried away in the direction of the driver's compartment. The others looked at each other in faint bewilderment.
"What did she mean, brace for impa - "
Wham!
With a terrible screeching of brakes, the train slammed to a halt; they all fell backwards, hitting their heads on the floor simultaneously.
"Ow!"
"¡Hijo de puta!"
"Dammit, that hurt!"
"Renée, what the hell are you doing? Are you trying to kill us all or what?"
Renée emerged from the driver's compartment, grinning.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this train is now terminating at Tumbleweed," she said cheerfully. "While disembarking, please ensure that you take all your belongings with you, including luggage, weaponry, L-Virus antidotes, vital paperwork that serves as the only proof of Umbrella's guilt, and small fluffy animals rescued from laboratories. Thank you for travelling with Renée Railways. Have a nice day."
She opened the door and hopped off the train, landing gently on the parched earth next to the tracks.
"Well, come on, then," she said impatiently, turning round and gesturing for the others to follow her.
Amber was the first to jump down. Lisa followed, rather hesitantly, jumping down and landing on the ground on all fours. Jack, the next to jump out of the train, landed rather more neatly and helped her to her feet. Dr Harlech jumped down with the intention of landing gracefully, but instead ended up in a heap on the ground.
"Ow…"
"Are you okay, Dr H?" said Lisa, picking up the unfortunate scientist and helping her to dust herself off.
"I'm fine, Lisa," said Dr Harlech. "Happens all the time. I always was clumsy."
"Right, has everyone got everything they need?" said Renée. "Briefcases? Backpacks? Hamster cages?"
The others nodded; Lisa, however, gave a squeal of horror and scrambled back up into the train, reappearing a moment later with the hamster cage in tow.
"Is that everything? Yes? Right then, let's go," said Renée, leading them around the rusting bulk of the train and across the train tracks.
Just visible on the shimmering horizon was the small collection of buildings known officially as Tumbleweed. As they started heading across the desert, following a faint dirt track in the direction of the town, Amber stopped.
"What about the train?" she said, pointing back to it. "Surely we just can't leave it there? Someone's going to wonder why there's an Umbrella train sitting on the tracks in the middle of nowhere."
Renée stopped to consider this for a moment.
"You're right," she said. "We have to blow it up."
"Blow it up? That seems a little… extreme, doesn't it?" said Dr Harlech, looking startled.
"Well, we have to destroy the evidence," said Renée, with a light shrug. "Best way to do it."
"Uh… if you say so…"
"I say so," said Renée firmly, rummaging in the depths of her utility belt. Eventual further rummaging produced five grenades - squat, oval, army-green objects that looked not unlike little unripe pineapples with a circular pin stuck in the top. She handed these out to her surprised and rather nervous-looking companions, keeping the last one for herself.
"Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Grenades 101," she said. "This is a very simple class. First, we make sure that we're within throwing distance of the target. Let's get a bit closer, shall we? These are going to fall short if we throw them from here."
She turned around and led them forwards until they were within throwing-distance of the train again.
"Can everyone hit the train from this distance? Jack, Lisa, is that okay? Yes? Good. Now, for the interesting bit."
Renée held up her grenade.
"I assume you all know that grenades are explosive devices. Therefore, you need to be careful. The correct method of grenade-throwing involves not dropping it on your foot, not forgetting to let go, and not hitting the wrong target by mistake. Now, see this pin?"
They all nodded.
"You pull the pin out with one hand, and throw the grenade at the target with the other. Make sure you throw the right bit - that's the most important part. A friend of mine called Luke once threw the pin instead of the grenade by mistake during training. I'm sure I needn't explain what happened next."
The others winced.
"Yep. That's why they call him "Luke - No Hands". So remember which bit you need to throw: the grenade, not the pin. Repeat - not the pin. Got that?"
Looking even more nervous, the others shuffled their feet. Dr Harlech was eyeing her grenade with extreme apprehension, as if she was afraid that it might suddenly go off without warning.
"All right then, that's basically it. Everyone ready? Okay! On the count of three, you pull out the pin and throw the grenade at the train! Ready? One… two… three!"
Seconds later, all five grenades - plus two pins thrown by mistake - were sailing in a graceful arc through the air. Their former owners watched as the little green objects smashed through windows and bounced into the train cars. Almost instantly, the train exploded, showering the tracks with burning debris.
"Cool!" said Renée, with considerable enthusiasm, as the fireball expanded outwards and engulfed what remained of the train. "Can we do that again?"
"No, Renée. I think we've destroyed enough of Umbrella for today " said Amber patiently, putting a hand on the mercenary's arm to restrain her. "Maybe tomorrow we can go and find something else with the Umbrella logo on for you to obliterate."
"Sounds good to me," said Renée, beaming from ear to ear.
"Me too, come to think of it," said Dr Harlech, suddenly looking thoughtful. "I must say that destroying Umbrella bit by bit has a certain appeal. I'm not too bad at this grenade-throwing business either - I don't suppose there's an Advanced class, is there?" she added hopefully.
"Nah, not really," said Renée. "Pull pin, throw grenade, watch the target go boom. That's about it. But I can teach you some other useful junk about combat if you want."
"That would be nice."
They stood and watched as the flames rose higher, smoke curling from the burning wreckage of the train and rising high into the cloudless morning sky. Their escape was complete, the enemy vanquished - for now, at least - and soon their lives would return to something that vaguely resembled normal. Life, they thought, was good.
Leaving the smoking, twisted shell of the train behind them, they turned around and headed into the desert. Ahead of them lay Tumbleweed, glittering like a small and rather dusty jewel in the morning sunshine. With light hearts and eagerness they headed towards the town; towards food, hot water, safety, sleep, and their future.
A/N: Okay everybody, we're almost there now - the epilogue's coming soon and should be posted in a few days' time. Hope you're still enjoying the story.