Death Becomes Her
by Julesville – aka Fumo the Smoker, aka Bethlehem, aka Spike Justice
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil series, the characters and ideas are the intellectual properties of their creators and Capcom. However, original characters and ideas are my property and cannot be used without my permission.
Note: I'm trying a new style, before I would take a very long time to get a piece done, now I'm trying to put them out quicker, so excuse me if you think it's too sloppy. I welcome any crisism for any reason, don't be a jerk though.
Prolouge -
Jill's
body was giving up, her arm was tearing from it's socket, her wounds
screamed for relief, and he mind kept her juiced on a steady mix of
adrenaline and abject fear, yet she still continued. Beyond even her
own belief she strove on and eventually her hand burst from cold
freezing current and grabbed a hold of hard stone.
Using every muscle between her wrist and her shoulder, she pulled until her head slowly slide from out of the river. Instantly she gobbled up the fresh air and filled her lungs. With renewed strength she inched her body out of the water, but still the load on her other arm threatened to return her to the chilly river.
All that was required to save herself was to release two or three digits and let the hulk disappear under the rapids, but before she would ever consider that, she would let go of her savior rock and back stroke back in. Her fingers wouldn't even let go if she had the power, already cold and frozen into a claw, an unseen force kept the hand strong and her grip firm.
With the last breaths of her second wind she pulled her cargo out of the waves, Chris Redfield's stubble covered face slide threw calmly, his eyes tight and a blank grimace looking so peaceful even in such life-threatening times. He coughed and spit then breathed roughly making raspy sounds.
Chris wasn't dead yet, despite what other saner people might think. Sure he was bleeding internally and externally and his own will to stay alive had long left him, but he still had that blessed look in his eyes, eyes so full of life, and as long as that remained, Jill would pull.
Using her stomach muscles her crawled and grinded her way onto the shore, and with one more thrust she dragged Chris up next to her.
She took only a nano-second to catch her breath, to analyze her own aches and wounds, not nearly enough, but enough for her, and then inspected her cargo.
Chris had slumped uncomfortably across the thick grass with on arm underneath him and the other hand still in the water. The moon light glistened on the new blood stains that appeared below his Kevlar vest.
All around them the forest was like worst punk concert you could ever go to, noise pollution and violence abound, it seemed in this moment when she finally could pay attention to her surroundings, they'd all been trying to get her attention.
The Black Forest, ancient German dark garden, all around her the hills were infested with the dark pines it was known for, and with the moon at a full in a star crushed night you could see the silvery outline of everything. The river she and her weight had nearly died getting across was a tributary of the Rhine, carrying freshly melted ice water that had come from the mountains during this year's spring thaw. It's waters were nearly black, accented by the massive reflection of the moon across it's stormy scalp. Across from her the forest moaned in sorrow and rage, gun shots filled the air with maniacal percussion, undead screams provided both baritones and falsettos. Smoke rose from somewhere in the distance but as difficult to see as it dispersed across the midnight.
She scanned the opposite shore as she pulled Chris by his vest toward the tree line, as she had known the slow dimwitted zombies wouldn't follow her and Chris into the river, it's current was too quick for them to tread and make it out alive, much less her.
It was kind of miraculous the way she'd done it, dragging the bigger Chris threw thick forest over her shoulder, then leaping into rapids all to save her friend. Then again, considering what they'd been threw in the past together, it was only as incredible as all the other mishaps. Still, she'd been unable to leave the man, they're comradery being that strong that they'd risk they're own lives to save the other, do foolish things in impossible situations hoping beyond hope that everything might turn out alright if they just remained strong and united.
Jill Valentine, was a warrior, but still a woman, and perhaps this relationship had more of an importance to her. There were deeper reasons why she'd risk so much for the man, she knew, she'd always known, what she didn't know is the lengths she'd go to stay with him.
She was shaking, not from the cold, though that was getting to her, but from fear as the man's life was in her hands. Retaliating with that hidden strength she possessed, she calm herself and pulled the Green Herb salve the R and D guys had come up with her vest pack. Pulling up Chris's shirt, she inspected his wound, right above his waist, deep and still seeping. As she rubbed it deeper into his wound, he groaned and yelped, squirming as best he could with no energy. Finally his eyes lifted, the life still there, his mouth puckered but didn't make a sound until finally he groaned loudly.
"Owww, stop it!" He whined.
"Chris, I have to rub this in deep to stop the bleeding, don't move." She let careen from her haggard throat out at him.
His eyes focused briefly on her, in that moment he showed trust, loyalty, friendship, and he calmed down as her lay on the ground, only twitching uncontrollably a few times before she finished.
"Gaaa…" He mumbled, "We… where are we?"
Leaning back to sit on the grass she rubbed the remainder of the salve onto her ankle. Some ways back she had fallen threw a rotten tree trunk and twisted her ankle. She could walk but she knew once she stopped it would swell and make her immobile, hopefully the slave would bring down the inflammation, "Other side of the Rhine, safe, hopfully."
Chris squirmed like a snake trying to shed it's skin, "Uhh… Jill, gimme a ciggy…"
Curled up into a ball, Jill lifted her head, "You quit."
"Naw… No I didn't."
"Yes, two years ago. You said after surviving zombies and monsters, you didn't want to die of lung cancer." Jill said as she studied her partner as he shrugged continuously threw the grass.
"Uhh… where's Al, he'll give me a smoke…" He groaned in a worn-thin tone, "Albert!"
Jill almost gasped at the mention of the name. Once a reliable friend and comrade known as Al or Albert, he was now the soulless betrayer known only as Weskar. Jill harbored plenty of ill will toward the traitor, but Chris did more then anyone. The bastard had almost killed him and his sister, as well as condemning most of their friends to death, and pulling the trigger on their Bravo team pal, Enrico. The fact that he would call out for him in his half-dead condition was more worrying then his actually condition, he was losing himself.
It was clear now that he was in shock. The wound was already stopped up, but he'd lost a lot blood. Without medical attention soon, he was in serious danger of dieing. All she could really do was hope and kept his spirits up.
Moving to the body, she let her hard shell crack a little, and a piece of the emotional Jill she had locked away long ago, and took a hold of his hand in both of hers. Chris immediately stopped his tossing and turned to focus his weary eyes on her.
"Chris," she whispered with more emotion then she could stop, "You have to stay with me here. We're in Germany, you're here with me, and help is on the way. It'll all be ok in a matter of minutes, Claire will come, we'll get you to a hospital, and then… then we'll all be fine… we'll be together…"
She choked on the last words, her original speech constantly shifting between comforting fluff and genuine sentiment.
Chris looked up at her with tired, but intrigued eyes, and mouthed, "Jill?"
Despite what her mind told her, she couldn't stop now, "Any minute now, we'll get picked up and the troops will kill all the zombies and… we can put this, this tragedy all behind us finally. We'll be able to sleep without… without seeing the faces of all the dead people, without feeling like Raccoon City was our fault, we can forget all of the horrible things Umbrella did to us, what they forced us to do… I, you just have to keep thinking like that, that one day everything's going to be OK, and we'll be happy."
Peering threw squinted eyes, afraid if she opened them anymore she would leak tears down onto Chris's chest, she saw his face, no longer twisted in confusion and pain. Now it was calm and fluid, she could see he was back with her, at least momentarily.
In this moment of honesty, he looked as if he had oceans worth of feelings to unload onto her, but when he finally spoke his words were short and carefully chosen.
"Jill… I don't think I can make it this time."
"No." Jill sniffed, gripping his hand tighter.
His eyes closed, "It hurts too much… but I can't feel anything… I'm so cold. Everything has gone wrong with my life… everything I hoped for myself died at Spencer Mansion. Everything I've wanted is so far away… everyone I care about is so far… 'cept you…"
"Yes, Chris, I'm here, I'm right here." She called to him as if he were a thousand miles away, "I'm still here with you. I know our lives are so much different now, then what we expected, but I've still be here with you the whole time. That's gotta mean something to you right?"
Chris drifted back, his eyes opened and he focused on her once again, "Of course."
"Then stay here for me… please, Chris, if my friendship, my… love ever meant anything to you, you have to stay for me. I need you…" The shell was broken now, and some 20 years worth or repressed tears flowed down the sides of her checks.
Chris looked up at her as if he understood and was clueless at the same time, "Ok… I'll stay, because…I'm scared and I need you too… more then you could every know.
Believe it or not you could get used to zombies, genetic freaks, monster plants, haunted houses, and having your day ruined completely by global corporate espionage. You never however get used to seeing the people you care about get hurt, every stab feels just like the first. You'd give anything to relieve their pain, and you'd be just as surprised at how used you got to risking your life for them
To think, only a few hours before hand she thought the day was going to be boring.
COMING SOON: In a few seconds the day changed, Chris is on the verge of death and Jill is on the verge of collapse. In the next chapters you will see the series of events that led to this; how a another outbreak occurred in Germany, how the two ended up alone in the forest running for their lives, who dealt Chris the death blow? The answer to these and more, and by the end, the conclusion. Will he live or die, and what will ti mean for Jill and Chris's futures...
TO BE CONTINUED...