Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Twenty Three: Power Distribution

Unlike the pharmacy and Stagla station, which were relatively close to Central Station, and easy to get to regardless of the zombie presence, the nearest power substation was back the way Jill had come from uptown, near where all that construction work had been taking place. Well, it might have been easier to get to if it weren't for all the police barricades and collapsing buildings blocking the roads, so after passing back around The Arcade Shops plaza, thankfully without drawing the attention of the infected horde, it seemed that the only way to get through was to go right into the construction site.

Unlike Carlos, Nikolai was like a machine, keeping up a constant pace of stopping just long enough to take a look at his surroundings, and then rushing forward to another place of cover, and then doing it again. He was cold, though, acting as if the situation in Raccoon City was just another battlefield, and sometimes not even waiting for the young woman to catch up before moving again… at least until he needed more directions.

Before the T-Virus outbreak had started, this whole corner of the city block had been under construction, with a bunch of old buildings having been knocked down and cleared out of the way in order to build a much larger one. When worked stopped because of the sudden cannibal attacks, the foundation of the building, as well as most of the metal frame had been completed, but only a few walls and other features on the ground floor had even been started, making the place look more like an abandoned ruin than a construction site.

All the equipment was still there, too; tools, tripod-mounted work-lights that were still on, vehicles that had run out of gas from being left on when the workers ran for their lives, everything that suggested that this place was still in operation, just without any people. Well, there were some people around, but the young woman doubted that a bunch of zombies stumbling around the partially completed rooms in hardhats counted as such.

"We must be quiet going through, but cannot avoid all of them." The Lieutenant said quietly, picking up a pick-axe from the fallen tools. "Grab something sharp, and do as I do, girl… hope STARS train arms to be strong enough for task."

Wait… was that a challenge? Nikolai scoffed at her and shook his head when she picked up another one, and then the Lieutenant crept up on the nearest infected person. Crack! Hiding around the corner of a finished wall and then swinging the pick-axe, the sharpened end went right through the hard hat it was wearing, with Nikolai pulling the tool back out and getting back around the corner before his target had even collapsed to the ground. The other zombies in the room looked toward the sound for a second, but didn't appear to seen anything wrong with their fellow infected just falling down, because they immediately went back to just standing around.

The Lieutenant looked back at her, gesturing toward the zombies as if he expected her to top his performance, and although the young woman had never killed a zombie, or anything with a tool such as this for that matter, but he made it look so easy… and Jill was not about to turn down a challenge from him after all of the little girl comments he had made about her back on the cable car. So she moved up toward the wall on the opposite corner from where he was standing, looking around just enough to pick a target, and then waiting for the opportunity.

Normally she wouldn't have wasted their valuable time like this, since the sun was getting lower with every passing second, but out of the whole labyrinth of a construction site, this was both the shortest and least populated route to the substation on the other side. Gunfire would have been quicker, but she didn't want to end up running from another horde like after the Grill 13, so as soon as the target was in range, she stepped out and swung the pick-axe right toward its head.

Maybe it was because she was nervous, or maybe she just wasn't used to the odd shape and weight of the weapon, but for whatever reason it was, the sharp end of the tool flew right past the end of the zombie's nose, hitting nothing but air… until it embedded itself deeply into the wall. Oh, crap, Jill thought as she tried to pull it back out before the infected man could react, but the pick-axe was buried so far that this was impossible, and then there was a rasping sound as a pair of infected hands reached out for her.

Upon noticing this, the other remaining zombie in the partially finished room started to groan loudly, which would have possibly alerted the other infected people nearby if Nikolai hadn't cut off the sound by burying his pick-axe into its forehead. However, it didn't help the young woman much when her own target grabbed her by the shoulders, and she had to grab it by the neck in order to keep the monster from biting her. Not about to let this thing simply overpower her like what had happened back inside Bar Jack, the young woman pulled back, and then rushed forward while slamming her knee into its stomach, getting it to let go of her just long enough for her to move around behind it and leap onto the zombie's back.

Putting it into a sleeper-hold as they both tumbled to the ground, Jill used her legs to keep the infected man's pinned while she forced its head to turn as far to the left as possible… farther… farther… farther until it couldn't go any more… and then wrenching it back all the way to the right as far and hard as she could. Snap! There was a wet sound as the zombie's neck was broken, and now the infected man was still while the young woman rolled away to catch her breath.

"Not bad, for little girl." The Lieutenant said quietly, trying not to draw any more attention. "Not exactly as I would do, but… turning failure into victory is always good. Come, there is no more time for playing."

Playing, Jill thought? This was playing to him? Every time that she had ever been forced to face off with a zombie in close quarters… which happened more than she cared to think about, the young woman had always been terrified, since all it took was a single bite for someone to become one of them. Carlos might have been less experienced or professional in general than Nikolai, but at least the younger man gave a shit about what was happening… and he probably would have helped her out, too.

Oh well, she was alive and now there was a clear path for them through the rest of the construction site, which they took advantage of as soon as she was on her feet. It was only a short distance more to the other side, since the building was only taking up a quarter of the block, and once through the partially standing construction fence around the property, the power substation was right there across the street.

Protected by a large chain-link fence with three rows of barbed wire at the top to keep out vandals, the small facility consisted of a tiny building off to the far side, while the rest of the gravel-covered yard was filled with distribution pylons that received from the main power plant, and sent it out all over the downtown district, including to the cable cars. It was all lit up by a series of bright, orange lights that were mounted on top of the fence, allowing the two of them to see a large gate that had an equally large padlock securing its chain.

"Hmm, this could cause problem." The Lieutenant said, looking around. "If we can cut barbed wire, then maybe we can climb over, or…

"Or we can just do this the easy way for once." Jill interrupted, taking out her lock-picking tool while moving up to the lock. "This will only take a second."

It was a simple lock, but also a rusty one, so she had to be very careful not to damage either her tool or the tumblers inside while working them loose, but eventually the lock popped open, allowing them to push open the gate with a rusty screech. Okay, now that the hard part of getting there was over, this was where Jill's expertise came to an end, since although she knew Raccoon City like the back of her hand… she didn't have even the slightest idea how to turn the public transit systems back on.

"Okay, process is simple, but is two person job." Nikolai explained after pushing the shed door open and looking inside for threats. "Go over to far panel, and do exactly as told."

Well, at least one of them knew what they were doing, the young woman thought as she went over to the panel, looking at all of the switches and buttons as if it were a test that she hadn't studied for back in high school. Thankfully, though, the Lieutenant walked her through one step at a time, and soon the process was completed without a single explosion going off. Now that the power was back on, all they had to do was head back the way they came, and… and the young woman kept waiting for something to explode because of how everything else had happened, but for once everything was running smoothly.

"All right, cable car should have power now." Nikolai said after taking one more look at the meters and gauges. "Come, we have one last stop to make before leaving."

"One last stop?" Jill asked, following him out of the control shed and back toward the gate. "Is there enough daylight left for that?"

He assured her that there was plenty of time, and that their destination was just down the road, so she followed him down what was left of Flower Street, which from where they were bypassed The Arcade Shops completely. The road was mostly cleared, at least along the route that the Lieutenant was taking, but as they went a little further down, she started to get confused. Maybe Jill could have understood if he was trying to get to Kendo's Gun Shop, but that was all the way on the other side of town, and the only thing down this way was…

"Here we are." Nikolai announced, pointing toward the two-story building in front of them. "The Raccoon City Press."

This had been the young woman's original destination after being unable to reach anyone on the radio at the police station, but aside from the radio set that probably wasn't going to work any better than the last one, there was absolutely nothing inside of military value. Anything the reporters knew had already been published in the newspapers and on TV, and besides, the building next to it was on fire, with the flames beginning to burn up the far side of this building as well… so what in the hell were they doing there?