Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Twenty Two: Another Problem

Jill kept insisting that she was fine, but Carlos still insisted on waiting until she was no longer feeling dizzy before they headed out again. She was tough, tougher than most women he had met before, to have been able to survive in the city all alone, especially with that thing following her around like the most psychotic ex-boyfriend ever. Well, no matter how big and really, really scary that monster was, its days of stalking the young woman were over, and hopefully the young man had scored some points with her for saving her life when she froze up like that.

Not that he blamed her for not being able to move after coming face to face with that thing, since it was quite possibly the most frightening thing to ever exist… either way, it could keep all of its scary, stalker bullshit buried underneath the ruins of the Grill 13 restaurant, while Carlos ran off with Jill. Before that could happen, though, he needed to make sure she got back to the cable car safely, so after taking a look to make sure that the way was still clear, the two of them headed out of the gas station.

"Central Station is just past that courtyard with the statue." He explained as they carefully crossed the street toward City Hall. "It isn't far, so just stay behind me, and I'll make sure nothing hurts you."

"I know where Central Station is, Carlos, I've lived here for years." The young woman replied, ducking down with him when they reached the first hedge. "And shooting that rifle of yours all the time is just gonna draw more attention to us; you're better off saving it for the bigger things instead of zombies."

It must have been those giant insects down in the sewers that she was referring to, meaning that she must have faced them at some point, and furthermore, now that her ex-boyfriend was out of the picture, just about all of the fear that she had shown while inside the restaurant was gone. Jill was now confident and focused, as if with the exception of that monster, this whole situation was just another normal day for the Policia de Raccoon City. It was also kind of hard to remember that she was a cop in the first place, maybe because she was the cutest one he'd ever seen, but that was okay… a lady cop was still a lady, right?

"Keep your God damn head down!" She whispered in a scolding manner. "If there are any of those creatures crawling around, you don't want them to have a chance to see you when you look for them."

Hmm, maybe a lady, maybe not, Carlos thought as they continued on their way across the courtyard. The best part about rescuing a woman like her was that she already seemed to have plenty of experience dealing with the zombies and other monsters that were crawling around as she put it, and that was a hell of a lot better than having to babysit some damsel in distress… it just meant that he was going to have to work a little harder to impress her.

"Friendlies coming in!" The young man called out, not screaming, but just loud enough for his comrades to hear him as they approached. "So, don't shoot us!"

Crossing one last street, and racing up to the rear car of the transit, Carlos pulled open the door, and kept watch as Jill climbed inside, before shutting and locking the door after getting in, himself. He felt a little bit more relaxed now that they were back with the others, but the young woman with him seemed surprised, and not in a good way as she looked at Nikolai, who was checking the wounded Mikhail's bandages.

"Where is everyone?" She asked. "Are the rest of your men out doing recon, or something?"

"Rest of men are right here." The Lieutenant replied, standing up and looking her over as he approached. "Well, Olivera, you sure took sweet time getting back from pharmacy… I was able to stop Mikhail's bleeding, but… but at least now we know what kept you."

"Relax, Nikolai, you forget the days of youth." The wounded Captain groaned, smirking a little while sitting up enough to see them. "If I were Olivera's age, and met woman like that in place like this… I might still be gone."

"It wasn't like that, Captain." Carlos explained as he handed the Hemostatic medicine over to Nikolai. "I fell through the roof of this restaurant, and then we had to blow up the whole place to stop this monstruo enorme that was following her."

There was a sudden break in the conversation as Nikolai handed two of the large pills from the medicine bottle to Mikhail, and the Captain coughed a little while trying to wash them down with his canteen. The instructions on them said to only take two every eight hours to avoid a deadly blood clot among other things, but Mikhail was in a hurry to get back into fighting shape, so he took, well… a few extra. Now as long as he didn't move around for the next few hours, the medicine would stop the internal bleeding, and he would be fine… so long as he didn't strain himself for a while.

Meanwhile, Carlos decided to introduce Jill to the others, making sure to tell them that she was a police officer, too, since the young woman looked a little uncomfortable with the way that Nikolai and Mikhail had been talking about her up to this point. If there was anything that might have ruined the young man's chances with her, it was if she thought he was some kind of pig, and there was already a strike against him in that area from before he knew just how well she spoke Spanish.

"RPD or no, situation is extreme in Raccoon City." The Lieutenant replied, looking her over again. "How did little girl like you survive for so long."

"Hey, I'm not just some beat-cop, you know." The young woman finally spoke up, hands on her hips as if offended. "I'm a member of STARS."

"Member of what?" Carlos and Mikhail asked at the same time.

From the confused expressions that he and his Captain exchanged upon hearing this, it appeared that Mikhail didn't know what this STARS thing was any more than he did, and it was actually Nikolai who commented that it was some kind of police special forces unit. That certainly explained all of the training and experience that Jill had, and… hey, wasn't STARS that word that her ex-boyfriend said when it came into the restaurant? No, that had to be some kind of coincidence.

"Great, now we all know each other." Mikhail said, now looking at how low the sun was getting on the horizon. "Olivera, put oil in motor so we can head out… want to be at clock tower with others before sun goes down."

"Right." The young man said, setting the large can down on the bench so that he could remove the lid. "I'll just fill'er-up, and we can get out of here."

Of all the things that Carlos had been supposed to get, he honestly hadn't even thought about getting a funnel while they were at the gas station, so he ended up having to just cup his hands around the lip of the can while Nikolai poured, so that at least a good portion of the gear oil would go where it was supposed to be. It took a while, and even longer for the oil to settle to make sure there wasn't too much or too little within the system, and then the Lieutenant pressed the starter switch… so that absolutely nothing could happen.

"You have got to be joking me." The Lieutenant said, pressing the switch several times. "There is only few hours of daylight left, and if cable car is broken… not enough time to reach clock tower on foot before those monsters come out of sewers."

"Did you switch the circuit back on at the substation?" Jill asked, causing all three of them to look at her. "Right before the barricades were put up around the city, Mayor Warren ordered the power company to cut off all public transit… it was on the news… right before that stopped, too."

Carlos looked out through the cable car's windows, watching the sky slowly turning orange as if the sun was purposely trying to set just so that they wouldn't make it, and unfortunately one of the casualties of the Grill 13 disaster was the city map that the young man had been relying on to find, well… everything. He figured that it had become lost at some point between the pharmacy and his swan dive through that rooftop, but it was gone either way, so that didn't matter much.

"Then we must turn power back on." Mikhail said after the moments of silence that followed. "Jill, you know city, guide Olivera there, and…

"Wait, Mikhail, wait, the boy needs break." Nikolai spoke up. "Let Olivera rest from… blowing up restaurants and chasing girls… I will go with Jill and get power running."

The young man wanted to protest, but the Captain nodded in agreement before he could say anything, so now it was out of his hands. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Lieutenant, but… man, something about that guy just rubbed him the wrong way. There was no reason to feel that way about him, since Nikolai had been there, fighting alongside them since the beginning, and he did make it possible for them to escape from the sewers… it was probably just because he wanted the young woman all to himself… which was stupid since they were kind of in the middle of a life or death struggle.

"Night is fast approaching." Mikhail said as the two of them prepared to leave. "Keep girl safe, Nikolai, and return quickly. Oh… and try not to blow up any more buildings, da?"

"Da, comrade." Nikolai replied, laughing a little and shaking his head while unlocking the exit. "Do not worry, Olivera, will return girlfriend to you soon."

Carlos watched out the side window as Jill and the Lieutenant went out the door and headed back across the street toward City Hall… only to smirk when he saw the young woman grab him by the arm and point in the other direction. Soon they had vanished from sight, and now all the young man could do was watch for their return… as well as the sun as it seemed to be moving faster and faster toward the horizon, bringing with it the black of night and the dangers of those things hiding in the sewers.