Ch.4: Over the hills and through the Woods

"C'mon, keep up! At this rate, we ain't gonna git there until next week."

Rebecca heaved an exhausted breath before she glared at her infuriating companion. The longer the two of them traveled together, the more things she found irritating about Jessica June. She was taller and bigger than the pint-sized Rebecca, which meant she had to move harder to keep up with Jessica's strides. The woodland they traveled through would drop pointed reminders about the size difference fallen: trees, large rocks, and other obstacles. While Jessica hopped or bounded over them, Rebecca had to take a few extra seconds climbing over them, like the current log she was sliding over. The newest member of STARS Bravo team landed on her feet before spinning around and jogged up to Jessica.

The larger teenager stood casually next to a tree, used to the short stops in their journey to the Umbrella labs. Jessica stared at the cop with an open face of frustration. Rebecca wanted to remind her that unlike a certain civilian running around in wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket, she was still wearing her STARS uniform, including her body armor. Not only did the heavy piece of clothing wear her down, it also constricted her breathing as her chest pushed against it, which led to her staggering up to Jessica.

Jessica sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Do ya need another moment?"

Rebecca wanted to shoot something back at her but was too tired to yell. She nodded. The two of them had been traveling all morning, something her aching legs clearly wanted her to memorize. They'd left the others not long after Captain Enrico left. Although her superior had ordered her to return to Raccoon City and alert Alpha Team, Rebecca had disobeyed, waiting a few minutes before she and Jessica headed after him. Her intention was to rejoin with the Captain right as the three of them arrived at Umbrella's main facility. The plan required stealth and good timing, making sure they didn't run into him before they arrived but not lose track of him at the same time. They started off slow, allowing Enrico to build up his lead as they practiced stealth movement. Rebecca had called upon her police training during her practice, while Jessica had a knack for it, honed by the few times she had hunted in the woods. After enough practice, they tried to catch up to Enrico, not to meet him but close enough for them to see him.

That was where the plan faltered.

After two hours of power walking through the woods, they realized they had missed him. They had strayed somehow, and neither knew where he was. After that, the only thing left to do was head for the labs and try to regroup with him there. Rebecca scanned the forest ahead of her as she recovered her stamina. Somewhere ahead of them, Umbrella had a secret, bio-weapons lab. I just hope we're going the right way, she thought to herself. She wanted the place to be empty of moaning zombies and rampaging monsters, but one glance at Jessica extinguished that vain hope. That was because she knew Jessica's secret. It was the same secret that Jessica's friend, Daniel, shared: they were from the future. Rebecca didn't know how they gained the ability or why Daniel had picked such an odd assembly for reinforcements, but she knew he was from the future. She counted a dozen incidents last night as she, Daniel, Jessica, and Billy had traversed through the Umbrella training facility where Daniel had used his knowledge to protect them and to guide them to safety. She even managed to get him to indirectly confirm his status as a time traveler.

She glanced back at the path they walked through, wondering if he and the others were at Raccoon City yet. Probably so. Rebecca bet he knew the layout of the forest like the back of his mind. A sudden thought struck her. Wait, is that why he gave up so easily?She now stared at the forest accusingly, her eyes trying to pierce the natural camouflage to see a certain someone in artificial camouflage. After everyone had escaped the training facility, a brief meeting was held on what to do. Captain Enrico had ordered everyone but himself to return to Raccoon City to contact Alpha Team, to ensure Billy was incarcerated, and to seek medical help for the wounded. Although Daniel and his friends were from the future, they didn't have perfect foresight. During the night, he had been bitten and had been unable to prevent the deaths of his fellow soldiers, Private Carnes and Private Askew.

Naturally, Enrico wanted him to return safely to the city, along with the remaining civilians. Most of Daniel's friends agreed. Jessica and Daniel had argued, but Enrico wouldn't budge. Daniel had been eager to offer his help to STARS, whereas Jessica simply wanted to fight. Neither argument prevailed, so they had turned to duplicity, lying to the STARS captain they would obey. After Enrico left, Rebecca had done her best to convince Daniel he should actually go to the city. He agreed readily…too readily.

Cursing her naïveté, she saw no sign of him but couldn't shake this feeling he was simply lurking out of sight. Jessica threw another retort to keep going at her. Taking one hesitant step, then another, Rebecca surrendered her scan and returned to the path. He should know better than not to come. He could be infected and is going to need medical treatment if he wants to avoid becoming a zombie.The logical arguments felt oddly toothless when she compared to them to his rather consistent behavior in playing the part of a hero. She'd have to keep an eye out now.

"How long are ya gonna keep mopin' back there?" Jessica called out as she led the way.

Biting back harsh words, Rebecca scowled at her. She wanted to run and…do something. Yell at her. Maybe even take off that stupid cowboy hat of Jessica's and throw it to the wind. Why was she wearing that thing anyway? Combine the hat with the cowboy boots, and it looked like Jessica was making a lazy attempt at dressing up as a cowgirl for Halloween, even if she was wearing authentic versions instead of cheap stuff bought from a holiday store. "What's the hurry?" Rebecca demanded.

"We're losing daylight!" her compatriot reminded her. "With his head start, who knows how many kills your Captain is gonna make before we get there." She pouted. "If we don't hurry, he's gonna steal all the fun."

Anger, red and hot, flashed through Rebecca. The sensation used to be an occasional experience was quickly becoming a regular occurrence to her. That mere fact only made her angrier. She couldn't comprehend how Jessica could derive any joy from the life-threatening battles with the undead. The cowgirl's whole attitude to last night, like it was some kind of game, enraged the medic. She wanted to scream her fury at her ally, but her lungs were tired, and she needed the energy for the rest of the march to their destination. So, she glared at Jessica before she focused on keeping up with her, forgetting her suspicions about Daniel. I should have made her go back to Raccoon with the others…if only I could have.She channeled her frustration into her legs as she half-marched/half-stomped onward.

The emotional energy carried her all the way back up to Jessica's side, and the pair returned to silence. As the last of her anger bled out onto the forest floor, Jessica asked, "What's that?"

Rebecca gazed wearily up, and instantly shifted to alert mode as she held up her shotgun. Ahead of them, the forest laid siege to the largest cabin she'd ever seen. The two-story building sat uneasily as grass and trees grew around it, its brown walls weathered but not aged. A row of windows stared out, hiding the view within as the sunlight bounced off.

After a moment, Rebecca sighed. "This isn't the mansion we saw earlier."

Jessica grunted. "Yeah, but it just might be a part of it. Remember how the last mansion was connected to a church and an underground base? I say we take a look inside."

Her argument leeched the strength out of Rebecca's protests. She glanced to the left and to the right. "I wonder which way is the entrance?"

"Right there," Jessica answered as she pointed her submachine gun straight ahead at the windows.

"Don't be ridiculous," the medic chided. "We should go through the front door, without risking cutting ourselves on glass."

"Uh-uh." The cowgirl threw daggers as she glared back toward what was left of the training facility. "If it's anythin' like back then, then the front door will be unlocked, but then there'll be a dozen locked doors, each requirin' findin' some random key, and each of those will be found only after solvin' some stupid puzzle. I refuse to play that game again. I'm goin' through the window."

"You're not –"

A whetted hiss knifed through the air. The two teenagers paused as they looked for the source. The source identified itself when a long, green-scaled snake fell from a nearby tree. Rebecca instinctively hopped away from the reptile's landing. Not a moment after it fell, the snake slithered towards her, its intent plain to see. Rebecca didn't give it a chance before she blasted it to shreds with a shell.

"Wow," Jessica muttered as she glanced up at the forestry. "What'd ya do to piss it off?"

Rebecca stared uncomprehendingly at the snake bits. "It doesn't make sense." She took a step closer as she mentally measured it.

"Which part?"

The STARS officer took an unsure step away from the mess. "I had to study the local wildlife, in case I had to treat animal bites or venom poisoning. That snake shouldn't have been that hostile, and it's too large for any of the breeds that live in this forest."

"Uh-oh," Jessica declared with a grin. "Big snakes? Like giant cockroaches and leeches?" Her gaze shot to the cabin. "~I sense an outbreak,~" she sang with an all-knowing tone. Her eyes flashed to the dead snake. "They're not poisonous, are th-AAH!?"

The sound of a twig snapping was Jessica's only warning before another snake fell on top of her shoulders. The cowgirl twitched and tried to snatch at the creature, but she couldn't stop it from digging its fangs into her shoulder.

"Goddamnit!" she hollered through gritted teeth as her hand finally grasped onto the reptile's body. She pulled at it, but its fangs pushed deeper as it anchored itself.

Rebecca stepped forward to help when she heard two more drop behind her. She whirled around before opening fire on them. No matter how quickly they moved, the snakes couldn't dodge buckshot. Jessica released her hold on her weapon, the machine gun hanging on by its strap. With her now-freed hand, she gripped the snake's head and squeezed, slipping a thumb in-between its jaws as she applied the pressure to the top of its head. It struggled but lost the wrestling match as she forced it to release her. She focused her rage on the thin monster as she crushed the life out of it.

With a huff, she threw the dead thing against the nearest tree. "Damn snakes," she hissed as she clamped a hand over the bleeding shoulder.

"Let me see it," Rebecca quietly ordered as she grabbed her med-kit and hurried over to her.

"Ya didn' answer my question about the poison or not," Jessica reminded the medic as she pulled the cloth away from the injury.

"Only the red ones in this forest," Rebecca assured her. She pulled out her last first aid spray before she meticulously applied it, using only as much as she needed. The spray went back into the box the moment its services weren't needed. She paused as a thought struck her. "Unless the T-virus causes a mutation." A brief mental image of a giant, poisonous snake staring here in the face sent a shudder down her spine.

Jessica chuckled as she let her shirt slide back over her shoulder. "Guess I'm infected either way, ain't I? Ah well. Now, back to gettin' inside." The high school student marched up to the first window.

Rebecca could only stare incredulously. "…doesn't any of this mean anything to you?"

Jessica threw a quizzical glance over her shoulder. "What'cha goin' on about?"

"You!" Rebecca shouted. "You could be infected by a virus that has no known cure, and is not only lethal, but will also reanimate you as one of the living dead. And you just brush it off like it's nothing. Why!?"

A sigh was Rebecca's answer. "You worry too much about these things. If I die, I die. I ain't gonna go out whinin' like a bitch."

"How can you be so cavalier about this?" Rebecca demanded.

"Cavalier?" Jessica repeated, a big question mark on her face.

"How can you be so nonchalant...so easygoing about your own life?" Rebecca paused, a suspicion entering into her eyes. "Do you…want to die?"

Something flashed through Jessica's face too fast before Rebecca could catch it. Whatever it was, Jessica's usual, cocky smirk replaced it. "I'm just here to kick ass." She abruptly turned her attention back to the window. "And to do that, I need to git in there."

Rebecca wished she was better at reading people. I should have taken that psychology elective when I had the chance."It's too dangerous here, we should find the main entrance," she advised as she put away her kit. She momentarily debated trying to order Jessica to go back to the city and seek treatment, but the chances of that happening were as good as Captain Wesker revealing himself to be a secret mad scientist.

"And risk into runnin' into somethin' worse? You can go off and do whatever you want. I'm taking the shortcut." Jessica pulled out her reserve handgun and fired through the window. One, then two rounds punched through the glass, leaving two small holes at the center of even larger spidery cracks. Jessica paused before she raised an eyebrow. "Ain't it supposed to shatter? In the movies, all it takes is a few shots, and the whole thing comes tumblin' to the ground."

Rebecca sighed. "Glass doesn't work like that."

"Well, it's comin' down, whether it wants to or not!" Jessica declared as she batted at the weakened window with a nearby branch. Under the insistent barrage, the window broke. The cowgirl cleared away the rest of the fragments from the bottom side, giving her hands a safe place to put before she leaped into the building. Rebecca sighed again before she followed.

The buzzing of wings was the two's first and last warning before wasps as large as baseballs flew at them. Rebecca reflexively squeezed the trigger, and four wasps dropped out of the air.

"The hell!?" Jessica blurted as she stared down at the corpses.

Rebecca fought the urge to stare too. Instead, she surveyed the area. The two of them were standing in the middle of a hallway. Ahead of them, the hallway abruptly turned to the right with a human corpse guarding the corner. A large… farming tool was in its hands, Rebecca thought she saw. Poor guy.She had an inkling how painful his death must be. When she checked behind her, her heart nearly stopped.

Saliva-covered wood, molded and formed into a wasps' nest occupied the other end. As in, the nest was larger than a full-grown man as it hung off the ceiling and the walls, above somebody's former desk. There was a part of her mind that wasn't surprised. Huge wasps meant a huge nest, but the nest could hold dozens, perhaps hundreds of the giant wasps. Her medical mind began analyzing the amount of poison just one of those stingers would have. Enough of those things, and we'll be dead in no time, allergies or not.

Even as she formed the thought, the nest became alive as the swarm awoke to the nearby intruders.

"Oh shit," Jessica mumbled when she caught sight of the nest.

Rebecca broke her gaze away from the nest and headed in the opposite direction. "We need to run!"

Submachine gun fire brayed as Jessica shouted, "We'll never find safety in time!" The bullets tore into the flimsy wood, but with so much mass, the hive ate the hot lead as it poured out its defenders.

Rebecca halted her retreat at the corner, about to implore Jessica to run one more time when her eyes recognized what the dead man held in his hands. It was an old-fashioned bug spray. Praying to whoever was listening, the STARS officer let her shotgun slip through her fingers as she lunged for the anti-insect weapon, and hoped it wasn't empty.

No matter how many rounds she fired, Jessica couldn't make more than a dent in either the nest or the swarm flying straight at her. "Damned bugs," she swore as she backpedaled away from the vanguard of the wasps.

"Get down!"

Instincts served Jessica well as she dropped to her knees. Above her, a cloud of grey gas plumed and met the wasps' charge. Instantly, the first wave twitched before falling to the floor only inches away from Jessica. Rebecca passed the kneeling cowgirl as she advanced against the hive. The swarm, no matter how hard it tried to defeat the trespasser, couldn't withstand the well-equipped assault.

Jessica climbed back to her feet, a sullen grimace on her face, now that she was a useless bystander. Her ear twitched when the fluttering grew louder, even as the swarm before her died away. She brushed off the noise without much thought. She regretted it a moment later when she felt something stab into her shoulder. Her head jerked and she found a squadron of the giant pests coming in from behind with one audacious wasp already on her scoring the first blow.

With one angry swipe, she slapped it against the wall before she waved her arms in front of her, disrupting their flight. "Why can't ya be bigger so I can shoot ya!"

The wasps flew in and around her arms as they tried to find a place to land and deliver their payload. One wasp landed on her jeans, but was stopped with a quick kick, which left it fluttering on the floor as it attempted to become airborne.

"I've got them," Rebecca announced as she pointed the nozzle past Jessica's face and sprayed. Three wasps dropped, leaving only two. The first one was without its stinger flew threateningly around the pair, but another spray finished him off. The last one, crippled with a damaged wing as it bounced along the floor, felt Jessica's wrath as she stomped on it four times.