Chapter 5: To Rest or not to Rest?

With the last of the wasps a chunky puddle beneath Jessica's boot, she hissed as she massaged her shoulder where she was stung. "Damn it, that stings like hell!"

Rebecca ignored her for the moment as she strained her ears to detect any more of the powerful pests. The only noise she heard was her partner's pained breathing. With their safety temporarily secured, she switched into medic mode. "Are you allergic?" she asked as one hand reached for her medkit.

"Naw," the cowgirl groaned, "Wouldn't be much help outside the house if I was."

"Okay, then I'll just focus on removing the barb," the STARS member answered as she stood behind the taller teenager. She gently peeled back the blue jacket and the white t-shirt until she saw the source of Jessica's agony. To the medic's distress, the barb was nearly the size of a pin and she wondered just how much pain Jessica was actually in. For better or for worse, its large size made it easy for her to grab it between her nails and pull it out.

Although the source was removed, Jessica didn't feel any immediate relief. She tugged her clothes back in place before she glared at the giant nest at the end of the hallway before flashing her eyes at Rebecca. "Ya got a grenade?"

Rebecca stared back guardedly. "Why?"

"I'm gonna blow that shitty thing to smithereens!"

Shaking her head, Rebecca countered, "We can't waste them on it. We've already killed the wasps, just ignore it."

"Like hell I will!" Jessica shouted before she charged toward the mess of wasp spit and sap. Rebecca wasn't sure what the cowgirl could do and just watched her go, annoyed and in dire need of a nap. But when Jessica came within six paces of the nest, she slowed down and came to a halt at the desk beneath the nest. "Aw shit." Her hand snagged something off the desk before she marched back to the medic. Brandishing a copper key with "003" inscribed on it, Jessica fumed. "Keys! We're gonna need another fricking dozen of these before we're done with this place. I hate Umbrella buildings!" She staggered toward the hallway's other corner. "C'mon, I want to keep movin' and git my mind off the pain. And the sooner we git started, the sooner we finish this nonsense."

Rebecca hesitated. "It might be better if you sat down for a moment. We don't know if there were any other side effects caused by the T-virus. We should rest and wait to see if there are any other symptoms."

"I ain't stoppin'!" Jessica retorted as she rounded the corner.

For a moment, Rebecca wished Daniel was here instead of this annoying partner. He would heeded her advice. She pushed the thought back. There was no changing the situation now, and the soldier should have arrived at Raccoon City by now. Ideally. After a sigh, Rebecca followed after Jessica.

After a short walk, the hallway emptied into a large room that looked like a cross between an old Western museum and a laboratory. In the center of the room, a large square table held strange, circular devices, one looking like a tiny Ferris wheel, that Rebecca guessed were old lab instruments. On two walls were beakers, vials, microscopes, and glass slides with tiny samples.

Another hallway disappeared behind the corner ahead of her. A strange noise, a kind of grassy shuffling seeped in from a set of double doors in front of her that pulled her toward it. However, before she could investigate or take a closer look at the room's other particularities, Jessica released a small cry of victory. The cowgirl stood in front of a door only three feet in front of the medic, placing itself between the mouth of the hallway of the wasp nest and the hallway of strange noises. Jessica shoved a key into a third door's lock. Above the door was '003'.

"Maybe the rest of them will be this easy," Jessica hoped as she opened the door. No monster popped out at them, and she took that as a sign to enter with Rebecca trailing behind her. A wall light shaped like an old oil-lamp was reduced to redundancy as sunlight entered from the room down the short hallway. Between the two was another door, which Jessica promptly tried. Unlike the first door, this one happily gave her entry.

At first glance, Jessica thought it was just an old-fashioned cabin bathroom: a wooden medical cupboard hung above a porcelain sink. The tub was one of those smooth, almost rectangle ones, except a third of the bottom sloped up; it even had one of those oval rods hovering above it where the shower curtain would hang. Little beat-up, but normal. Then she realized that it wasn't meaningless debris loitering on the floor or clutching the walls.

Rebecca gasped when she got her good look of the room. "Are those…roots?"

Jessica nodded, perturbed. "Yeah."

It looked like a tree had decided to attach itself on the other side of one wall and exploded its roots into the bathroom. Except, there weren't boards tossed here and there, which meant it had been a gradual growth. Jessica tapped her foot against one of the tendrils and noted it wasn't wood. "Soooo, I'm guessing the T-virus can affect plants now?"

Rebecca's eyes roved over the man-sized roots. "It looks like it," she murmured with a worried frown. "How did they create a virus that can affect multiple kingdoms?"

Jessica shot a glance toward the medic. "What kingdoms, where?"

"It's a biology term for different kinds of life," Rebecca began, taking the opportunity to share some of her gathered knowledge. The exercise was distracting from the horror in front of her. "We're part of the animal kingdom."

"And it's weird that the T-virus is infectin' plants now?" Jessica threw out as she went back to exploring the overrun bathroom.

"The way the T-virus works, it sounds more like it's a bad piece of science-fiction than an actual virus," Rebecca noted in frustration. "I might be able to understand it better if I could've grabbed more detailed notes and documents at the training facility."

"All gone now," Jessica said as she took a step back from the roots, her search wasted. "Nothin's here." She glanced at the pool of dirty water lurking in the tub. "Unless, somethin's in there." She promptly stabbed her hand into the rancid liquid before pulling the plug. No leeches or zombies ambushed her as the water drained out. Instead, she found a rusting dagger on the bath's bottom. "Well, it's somethin'."

Rebecca followed her back to the main room when she noticed something. She studied her partner and realized the cowgirl's breathing was ragged. Not only that, sweat slid down her head in thick waves, but her skin was pale. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jessica growled.

This time, Rebecca didn't meekly accept the situation. She marched in front of Jessica and shoved a hand against Jessica's forehead. To her alarm, Jessica's skin was on fire. "You have a fever."

Jessica slapped Rebecca's hand away with a snarl. "I'm fine!" She peered over the room. Unlike the bathroom, no monster roots clutched at the walls. The bed's blue-and-white checkered blanket slouched over the side, while the desk held a smattering of disarrayed office supplies but no body lingered in the room. The desk lamp lit dimly compared to the strong sunlight, but no haywire electronics were in sight. Jessica began her search with the desk but staggered as her boot slipped on a runaway row of pens on the floor.

Rebecca grabbed her arm and helped her back to her feet, images of a zombie Jessica lurking at the edge of her imagination. "That's enough!" The medic ordered. "You need to rest and let me diagnose what's wrong with you."

Jessica bared her teeth, but she swayed wearily on her feet, rendering the gesture wasted. "I'm not done yet," she protested.

The bed shifted into importance as Rebecca lightly pushed Jessica onto the bed, the pillows shoving Jessica's cowboy hat to the side. "You're exhausted, dehydrated, and infected, if not poisoned. You're not doing anything else until you've rested." With her patient situated, she set up her med kit on the desk, sweeping the junk onto the floor.

"I'm not infected," Jessica muttered, while Rebecca worked. "Let me go, I need to kill more monsters."

"You're not going anywhere," Rebecca stated as she went through familiar procedures. To her dismay, she discovered symptoms of allergic reaction to the wasp sting. The snake bite was free of venom. More importantly, she couldn't find any signs of necrosis. Does that mean she isn't infected or that the T-virus hasn't had enough time to take effect? A disturbing thought froze her. Should I even treat her? If she's infected, then I should concentrate on finding a cure. Nothing else will save her at this point. A darker thought slithered in from the back of her mind, eager to remind her that she wasn't in much better shape. A desert occupied her throat, soreness gripped her muscles, and sleep wouldn't stop poking at her eyes. I don't think I can find the cure in time. It'd be safer to…put her out of her misery now. Memories of Edward flashed in her eyes.

Her moment of introspection was interrupted when she realized Jessica's eyes were locked on her. "I'm not infected," the cowgirl repeated. Exhaustion and weakness sapped her voice to the point where Rebecca couldn't tell if Jessica sounded confident or desperate.

A minute passed as the two teenagers stared at each other, one unsure, the other fading. Finally, Rebecca shook her head. Her fingers slid over her handgun's grip. She stood and faced the door. "I need to find a blue herb to purge the wasp venom. I'm going to find one and come right back." She glanced at her partner. "Okay?"

Jessica stared back at her with half-lidded eyes, uncertainty and frustration flitting across her face. With a sigh, she nodded. "Don't take too long. The pain fuckin' sucks."

"I'll be right back," the STARS member assured her one last time before she set out of the room. Once the door was closed behind him, Rebecca felt her resolve shake. She had been awake for over 24 hours, hadn't eaten a full meal since yesterday, and had spent half the time in combat. Even the floor looked comfortable enough to sleep on.

"Come on, Rebecca, keep it together." She glanced over her options and opted for the hallway to her right. The Umbrella training facility had a few dozen medicinal herbs growing throughout the facility. She hoped the same held true for this place, whatever it was. To increase her chances, she hugged the outer wall on the chance the herbs would grow closest to the outside.

She glanced between the two directions. To her left, the hallway led to a looming set of double doors. To her right, past the Old Western laboratory, a lone door casually stood. After a careful moment of weighing the virtues and dangers of each path, i.e. trying to guess which door had the smaller horde of monsters seeking to tear her head off, she went right.

With a flick of her wrist, the door clicked open and granted her entry. She stepped into another hallway going off to her right and to her left before sharply turning to the right. Sticking to her plan, she went left, keeping her next to the sun-filled windows. Although the abundant light revealed just how old and worn the building was, it was a far better than the night she spent in that last Umbrella nightmare of a building. A yawn slid out of her mouth as she walked down the hallway. I don't know how much longer I can keep going.

She passed stacks of old papers piled high in corners, cobwebs hovering off the ceiling, and old dressers filled with grainy photos before she reached the next door. It was on her right, which meant she had to abandon the building's outer edge temporarily. She quickly missed the sunlight when she stepped through.

It was another hallway that connected to a longer one that split into another 'T' ahead of her. That was fine. What was creepy was the large hole in the floorboards a few feet ahead of her. Neither the sun or the working light above the door pierced the hole's darkness. Next to it was a stack of crates. She had to choose to climb the boxes or simply hop over the hole. She took one slow step to the hole and immediately thought better of it.

Who knows what could be down there, she warned herself as she climbed over the square boxes. She safely stepped onto the other side and went left, trying to get back to the outside wall. Two doors occupied both sides of the hallway as she walked forward. For once, she ignored them for now, focusing on simplicity for her search. The hallway emptied out into a small foyer. Her eyes drifted toward the patch of light shining in from the left side. It guided her to the only door to the outside.

Moving cautiously, she gave the doorknob a twist. With a wooden groan, it opened. Rebecca stood in the open doorway, momentarily basking in the sun's heat. With a sigh, she closed the door and turned around. And promptly discovered a small colony of blue herbs on the other side of the hallway's entrance. Someone had collected several samples and placed them all into one long rectangle flower pot.

She dropped down to her knees, inspiring another bout of exhaustion to wash over her. C'mon, just need to get this last task done. After carefully removing one and storing it in her med-kit, she staggered to her feet as sleep tried to hold her down. Once back on her feet, she hurried back to Room 003, climbing back over the crate hill, and through the winding hallways.

"Almost there, almost there," she mumbled to herself as she slowed down in front of the door. She opened it and was struck by the silence within. Unsteadily, she raised her handgun into a firer's stance as she inched down the hallway. She paused at the end of the room's hallway and peered around the corner.

Jessica hadn't moved since Rebecca left her. She was covered in sweat, but her chest quietly and consistently rose and fell. To further reassure the medic of her patient's life, the cowgirl cracked an eye open and muttered after a moment, "Not dead yet."

Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief as she placed her handgun on the nearby desk. She grabbed the desk's chair and pulled it over to the side of the bed. "I found the blue herb. Give me a moment, and I'll have you treated."

While the STARS member prepped the herb, Jessica asked, "Find anything interesting out there?"

"I found the front door and these blue herbs, nothing else," Rebecca yawned as she ground the herb into a fine powder.

Jessica frowned. "No monsters? Zombies? Zombie dogs? What about those lizardmen?"

"Unlike you," Rebecca replied crossly, "I don't go looking for fights. As soon as I rendezvous with Bravo Team, we're going to finish this investigation as quickly as possible and be back home before the day is over." Finished, she carefully poured the blue sand over Jessica's bite marks, the anti-venom suffusing through the skin. "Give it a minute; you should feel it take effect."

"And then, then I'm back in action," Jessica weakly declared as one hand gripped her handgun.

Rebecca shook her head. "No, you need to rest. You're barely staying awake as it is."

"Look who's talkin'."

Rebecca stopped herself from rubbing one eye to glare at her patient. "You're still not getting up."

"I'm not dyin' like this," Jessica insisted as she pulled herself up.

Rebecca pushed her back down, despite Jessica's protest. "No one said you're going to die."

"Bullshit! I've been bitten and stung. I ain't getting' any better without some kind of cure," Jessica argued. "I need to keep going."

"We don't know if the snakes or the wasps are T-virus carriers," Rebecca insisted. "Besides, you're not going to be able to get anything done like this. Rest, that's an order."

Jessica struggled against the hands holding her down for another few seconds before the fight sagged out of her. She threw one last exhausted look of venom at her teammate before she started to drift off. "Ya'd better be right…or ya're the first one… I'm gonna eat."

Rebecca opened her mouth to retort, but Jessica was already in dreamland. She sighed before she switched out her med kit for a handgun. "Don't you worry about that. I'll, I'll put you out of your misery before that." Instead of the gung-ho, tough cop voice she was aiming for, her voice shook with thin anxiety. I'll do what I have to. I can shoot her if I have to…I can. She double-checked her handgun, making sure it was loaded and the safety was on.

One hand absentmindedly stroked the fully covers after she finished her weapons check. The cotton invited her to lay down her tired head. After all, she had been awake for over twenty-four hours. That was unhealthy and did nothing but lower her mission readiness. Rebecca stared at the checkered covers hesitantly. I'll just, I'll just shut my eyes for a few minutes. If anything happens, I'll be on my feet in a second. I just need a little power nap to keep coming. No more than ten minutes. With every thought, her head lowered another inch until she was rubbing her face into the soft fabric. In three seconds, her world consisted only of dreams and nightmares.