Author Note: Continuation to Secrets and Flies that starts Three months after the end of the last one. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it there all to hopefully bring a final end to there hellish lifestyle once and for all. To do that, assistance will be required from some, unconventional characters.
I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie (to date) and/ or video game plot (to date)
Please read & review as you wish!
B
Updated 30-June-2021: Updated to match the final edits in Secrets and Flies :)
Calm Before the Storm
- 3 -
Claire was thankful for the barren halls. She did not know what time it was, or the day of the week, but she knew the crew's schedule like the back of her hand. Today she was the relieve Luther from the bridge, and usually Jill would join her for an hour or so as a quiet, secluded place to chat. The one she needed to worry about most was Chris, and he would be in the galley serving breakfast with Angela, well out of range of running into Alice before she had a chance to explain herself.
"How did you get in here last night undetected?" Claire asked as they approached the steps to the bridge.
"I have my ways." Alice replied, a hint of a smirk peaking out from beneath her hood.
Claire scowled, "You didn't kill anyone did you?"
"Not as long as they can swim,"
Claire knocked on the bridge door, trying not to think of the poor men Alice tossed overboard. It took a few moments, but the door finally opened and Claire was alarmed to see Jill standing in the threshold.
"Where's Luther?" Claire asked, her heart racing.
"I relieved him two hours ago since he looked a little worse for wear." Jill replied, scowling at the person with the hood over their head, "Who's your friend?"
"Let us in and I'll explain everything." Claire replied, meeting Jill's eyes.
Jill complied, opening the door wider and stepping aside to let Claire and this hooded figure step onto the bridge. As a precaution, Jill closed and locked the door behind them. It was the same justification she used when she pulled out her pistol, aiming the barrel at the back of the strangers skull.
"Who are you?" Jill asked.
"Wait, Jill-" Claire stammered, hearing the safety click on Jill's pistol.
"I won't ask again."
Alice turned slowly, removing her hood and revealing her identity to not only Jill, but also K-Mart who had snuck up there to keep Jill company.
"We knew you'd come back!" K-Mart yelled, running to the blonde and embracing her waist.
Jill smiled, lowering her weapon, "The prodigal daughter returns."
Alice smiled at K-Mart before returning her gaze to her comrade from Raccoon City, now dressed now in cargo pants and a tank top. Her once long, blonde locks was cut to her chin. Her eyes read both curiosity and relief to Alice's return.
"Good to see you too Valentine,"
Jill turned to Claire, "Has your brother seen her yet?" she asked.
"No, she appeared in my stateroom an hour ago." Claire replied.
K-Mart smiled, excited as a kid on Christmas morning, "Do you want me to get the rest of them?"
"Please, including Chris, you all need to hear what I'm about to say." Alice replied, watching the the young girl run off on to complete her task. She then noticed the worry on Jill and Claire's face, "What's wrong?"
"Maybe not Chris, at least, not until we can explain your presence as a positive," Jill offered, holstering her pistol.
"What do you mean? Has your brother gone rogue?" Alice asked, turning to Claire.
"In a manner of speaking," Claire replied, remaining cagey on purpose. Let's see how she likes a taste of her own medicine she thought.
"He's been on a war path since you left, turning people against you, planning for your capture, or head on a stick, whatever comes first." Jill explained.
"Can't say I'm not surprised," Alice replied catching the scowl from Claire, "He already disliked me, and now believes I deserted you all to join forces with the enemy. Suddenly, I don't feel guilty about tossing two of his goons overboard."
"Ouch, but understood." Jill replied with a smirk, looking at Claire, "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I'm fine, I just want to get on with this."
Alice looked from Claire to Jill. When she left, they were at each other's throats, mostly over the the fact that Jill was sleeping with Claire's brother. It seems that in the past three months, they've put aside their differences, at least for the time being.
"We need to discuss our plan for the Umbrella strike." Alice stated, back in tactical mode.
"Shit! How long do we have?" Jill asked, defenses back on high alert.
"Don't know, but they're close." Alice looked from Claire to Jill, "Before I say anything more, the rest of the crew needs to be here and more importantly, I need all of you to do as I say without hesitation."
Jill gave a curt nod, "We've all been behind you since you left and K-Mart should be back soon, they're likely all in the mess getting breakfast."
Alice nodded, walking towards the chart table. She studied the map, seeing they had charted a course towards the Northern tip of Brazil. If they didn't survive this attack, their dreams of reaching South America would go up in smoke.
"My brother's brainwashed some of more malleable passengers that you abandoned us to join Umbrella. Those men you tossed overboard, they had orders to kill you if you ever made it back to the Arcadia." Claire explained, "Everyone is afraid of my brother, and those that don't believe him, keep it to themselves for fear of punishment."
Alice looked up from the chart and back at Claire, "I assure you, I came back to help. I didn't know Umbrella was tracking me until it was too late."
She removed the cloak Claire gave her to wear, revealing to Jill the black, neoprene suit with the familiar Umbrella logo on the front. Pistols in her thigh holsters and her trusty blade strapped to her back. Even with all her weaponry, it was obvious something about Alice had changed.
"What's that?" she asked pointing at the red mark inside Alice's wrist. It looked oddly familiar.
Before Alice had a chance to answer, there was a loud knock on the bridge door. Claire unlocked it, letting K-Mart in with Luther and Angela. Hugs were exchanged between Alice and Angela, her hand resting on her growing baby bump.
"Are you alright?" Alice asked with sincere concern.
"I'm fine, I promise." Angela replied, squeezing Alice once more, "I'm so glad you're back Alice."
"I must admit, when K-Mart told us about a surprise up on the bridge, I wasn't expecting you." Luther replied smiling wide.
"It's good to see you Luther, where's Chris?"
All of them exchanged worried glances before K-Mart piped up, "He wasn't in the mess with Luther and Angie, and well, I wanted to get them here fast so-"
Suddenly loud pounding came from the bridge door making them jump. Alice moved in front of Angela who now looked visibly frightened while Jill went and unlocked the door.
"What the hell Jill?! I went to the mess and no one was there," Chris remarked as he entered the bridge, stopping in the threshold, "You!"
"Chris I-" Alice started to say when Chris interrupted her.
"What the hell is she doing here!" he barked at the group, his eyes as thin as slits and face flushed. He balled his fist, striding across the room when Claire stepped in front, stopping him mid stride.
"She's come to help. Umbrella's going to attack, and we need her." Claire replied holding her brother's gaze.
"You know the rules Claire! You should've taken her to me before coming to the bridge," he snarled attempting to inch forward, but Claire stood her ground.
"If I'd done that, you would've put a bullet through her skull!" Claire snapped, her tone just as edgy as her brother's.
Jill and Luther intervened, separating the siblings before another fight broke out, "Play nice children." Jill stated, squeezing Chris's arm, "Listen to her Chris, please." she asked, meeting his eyes.
Chris relaxed his hands, looking back at Alice, "Speak," he commanded as if he was talking to a dog instead of a human being.
Alice let it slide, knowing time was precious and they could sort their differences out later, "Umbrella will likely be here within the next two to three hours at most. I picked up their signal three days after I left Moscow. I would've been back earlier, but I wanted to throw them off my scent before trying to make it here, but I've failed." Alice explained, looking around the room, "I'm sorry, I would've stayed away, but you need my help if we are going to beat them."
"How do you know they are still tracking you?" Chris asked, folding his arms across his puffed out chest.
Alice turned to him, eyes hard, "I just know." she stated flatly.
"That's not good enough Alice. How do you expect us to trust you after you fucked off for three months doing god knows what!" Chris yelled in her face.
"I was trying to protect you!" Alice countered, nostrils flaring.
"Bullshit! If you were, you wouldn't have come back at all!"
"Hey! Guys stop!" Luther interjected, noticing Alice and Chris were about to use more than words.
Chris jabbed a finger in Alice's chest, "You owe each and every one of us an explanation!" he demanded, sweat beading his furrowed brow.
Alice looked around the room from one person to the other, all eyes on her, ready to hang off every word she was about to say. "I do, I owe you all more than just an explanation, but now is not the time. They have new bio-weapons, a bigger army, and no ounce of humanity. When they attack, and they will, they won't stop until they get what they want." Alice explained.
The room fell under a hushed silence, Alice's words hanging in the air like a black cloud of disappointment and despair. No one moved, caught in an almost catatonic state. Every single one of them had a million questions, the top one likely how does she know all this? If it was an easy explanation that would not potentially destroy any shred of trust she still had with her faithful crew, she'd give them more, but that was not the case. Alice hated to admit it, but Chris was right. She should have stayed clear of them as soon as she realized Umbrella was on her tail, but it was too late. Her friends, Claire, innocent people, all of them would have been targeted with or without her here. Her return was a risk, but these people stood a better chance with her than without.
"We should get everyone ready." Claire piped up, breaking the silence.
"How many weapons do we have?" Chris asked, directing his question to Jill.
"About sixty assault rifles and probably enough extra ammo for at least half of them." She responded, "Plus, our own personal weapons and ammo."
Alice sighed, that wasn't going to be enough. "How many people aboard know how to fire a weapon?" she asked.
"At least half, we do target practice out on deck once a week." K-Mart replied, surprising Alice.
"We should sound the alarm." Luther added.
"Alarm?" Alice questioned.
"Claire instituted a protocol if Umbrella attacked." Jill replied, "The people on this ship know what they need to do."
"What exactly does the alarm signal?"
"The children and non combative adults are to calmly go down to the cargo hold where we've created an emergency supply of food, water, blankets, and cots. It can last them for four days if need be. They have ten minutes from when the alarm sounds to make it to the cargo hold before I seal them in from the bridge." Angela explained.
"After that, Chris and I distribute guns and ammo to those willing and able to fight. Once we've run out, we close off the armory and make our way to the boat deck to join Claire and Luther. One pair is stationed at the stern, the other at the bow, armed and patrolling for Umbrella helicopters ." Jill continued.
"K-Mart," Alice turned to the bubbly blonde, "What's your role in all of this?"
"Since you've been gone, we got the ships navigation system working. Get this, it has a beacon to track incoming ships or helicopters. My job is up here on the bridge with Angie, watching the navigation equipment and feeding information through walkies talkies to Claire and the rest of the team."
"Well, it seems you have this all planned out." Alice looked at Claire, seeing a tinge of red sweeping over her cheeks.
"We couldn't rely on you ever returning now could we? We needed to be prepared." Chris muttered.
Alice ignored him, "I'll go out on the decks with Claire and Luther as part of patrol." She then turned to Angela, "I want you to wait twenty minutes and then sound the alarm, that will give us enough time to gather our weapons and get to our stations okay?"
"Got it," Angela stated, pulling out her own pistol from her waist band.
Alice placed her hand over the girls weapon, "I want you to go down into the cargo hold with the others."
"Alice," Jill warned, shaking her head.
"I can't do that Alice, these people took so much from me. I want my revenge too." Angela replied, squeezing Alice's hand, "I'll be safe, I promise."
Alice was about to argue, but something about the look in the young girls eyes told her to keep quiet. Regardless of the life growing inside of her, both Alice and Angela understood the need for revenge. She then turned her attention to K-Mart.
"I want you to give us an update on Umbrella's location every two minutes over the walkies."
"Yes Ma'am." K-mart replied with a fake salute.
Alice caught the eye of Chris, "What?" she barked.
He smirked, "What do we do about those who are going to try and murder you on the spot when they see you're back?"
Alice approached, locking eyes before smirking herself, "You created that mess, you can clean it up."
Jill grabbed Chris's shoulder, pulling him towards the door, "We'll see you top side in thirty." she stated, disappearing to the armory and taking Chris with her.
"I need to get my weapons in my room, then I'll be topside." Claire replied leaving the bridge.
"Claire wait up!" Alice called, winking at the girls before running to catch up with Claire. She grabbed her by the shoulder, stopping her in the hall, "You came up with this plan if I didn't return, didn't you?"
"I needed to protect these people, they depend on me for their survival." Claire replied, letting out a deep sigh, "Just like Nevada."
Alice smiled, knowing that what happened to her convoy in Nevada haunted Claire, this was her chance to make up for that costly mistake, "I always thought of you as the smart Redfield." she remarked, giving Claire a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you topside."
Claire forced herself to smile before continuing back to her stateroom.
T.B.C.
Please R/R if you feel the urge to do so...plus! I am always open to ideas/ thoughts and predictions!