Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Twenty Four: True Colors

The front entrance of the press building was unlocked… well, it actually looked more like it had been forced open at some point, since there was plenty of damage to the lock itself that could be seen when one of the double doors were pushed open. The lobby looked to be almost untouched by the T-Virus outbreak, though, with no infected shambling around, nor were there any bodies or even blood on the brown tile floor. A couple of flickering vending machines illuminated the corner in brilliant blue and red light next to a useless wall-mounted payphone, and the large reception desk was untouched as well… but then, why was the door forced?

All of the offices were on the second floor, while the radio set the reporters used to interfere with police business was all the way at the top on the third, and since the elevator was not working, the only way to get there was by using the stairs. This was where the building's untouched status came to an end, however, since when Nikolai opened the stairwell door Jill could immediately smell smoke. Turns out that the fire from the next building wasn't just spreading across the far side of the building… it was spreading throughout as well.

"Nikolai, this isn't a good idea." The young woman warned, ducking down a little to be below the smoke that was pouring out. "The sun's going to be down in less than an hour, we should just get back to the cable car."

"No, is very important, will only take a minute." The Lieutenant replied, ducking down himself a little as he started up the wooden stairs. "Come, there is no fire, just smoke."

She didn't want him to go upstairs by himself, since she didn't like the idea of having to get all the way back to the cable car by herself to get help if something happened, so Jill followed, realizing that he was right about the fire part. There was plenty of smoke inside the stairwell, and the young woman could see the flickering of distant orange light underneath the door on the second floor landing when the stairs looped around to continue upward, but the smoke was coming through the ventilation outtake, which was how it was getting into the stairs.

Again the young woman tried to convince him that they should just leave, since there was nothing in this place but the radio, but… but maybe that was what Nikolai was after. She already knew that they had lost their radioman in the minutes after getting dropped into the city, so it made sense that they would need to contact the others before heading over to the clock tower, because… well, military units just did things like that.

There was no smoke or flickering light coming from underneath the door to the third floor, so the Lieutenant pushed it open, and Jill felt even worse about being inside this place when she saw that the smoke simply hadn't reached the stairs yet. Starting with a short hallway that ended at an open window, and then branching off in two directions, the closed door to the right was smoldering pretty badly from the obvious fire in the room behind it, but all of the smoke was going out the window, so at least they could breathe.

"This way, over in here." Nikolai continued, leading the way through the remaining door. "Is radio room, I'll keep watch, you try to get response."

Well, since they were there, it would have been a wasted opportunity for her to refuse, since it looked like there was some time left before the fire reached this part of the building. This area was a single open room with a row of large windows facing the back of the building, with the only significant features being a long meeting table where countless papers and documents were scattered about as if someone had ransacked the place recently… and the large radio communications set against the far wall, where the press building's first dead body was discovered.

"Looks like one of your men made it here before…" She said, trailing off. "I'm sorry, Nikolai."

The Lieutenant grunted while looking down at the body that was slumped on the floor, partially propped up against the corner. It must have been this man who had forced the door open downstairs, but… but it looked like he had been shot several times… possibly in the middle of becoming a zombie? If so, then he couldn't have shot himself like that, so… was there another survivor from their unit out there?

First thing's first, Jill thought as she sat down in the office chair and hit the power switch for the radio after setting her pistol down on the desk. If there was another of Mikhail's men out there, he obviously wasn't inside this building, so they couldn't help him until they were done there. As she had done inside the police station, the young woman immediately started trying to tune into an active signal, but then she saw all of the bullet holes in the communications equipment, which explained why she hadn't heard any static… but not why she suddenly felt the barrel of a gun pressing into the back of her neck.

"Nikolai?" She asked, in complete shock as he picked up her weapon with his free hand, and tossed it across the room. "What's going on? What are you doing?"

"Don't move, little girl, and put hands on desk, spread out as wide as they go." The Lieutenant ordered. "Now, are you really Jill Valentine of RPD STARS? Answer me, girl, your life depends on it."

She was confused, not understanding why someone in this situation would suddenly be threatening her with a rifle, and also not knowing which answer to his question would get her killed, if that was really his intention. Did he somehow not believe that the young woman was who she claimed, or was he looking for her for some reason? Without knowing the reason for his sudden change of character, Jill didn't know if it was better to lie or tell the truth… so she took a chance on telling the truth.

"Good, I would hate to waste bullet for no reason." Nikolai explained. "Sorry to make you walk all the way here to do this, but press building was only place in city I knew that Olivera did not… so he would not know where to find you when I tell him monsters attacked us on way back to cable car."

"Nikolai, what… what you're saying doesn't make sense." Jill replied, realizing that the Lieutenant had been there before, and had probably shot the other man and radio himself. "I'm not a threat to you, and we stand a better chance at getting out of the city if there's four of us, so… so why are you doing this? I don't understand."

It started to make sense, though, after the Lieutenant explained that he was a little more in the loop when it came to company business than Carlos and Mikhail were, and then the young woman's mouth ran dry after he told her that Umbrella had put a quarter of a million dollar price on her head because of her role in the destruction of the facility in the Arklay Mountains last summer… on her and all the other members of STARS who were still alive.

"Is a shame… you are beautiful girl." He continued, moving his finger onto the rifle's trigger. "Would prefer making love to you first, but as you said… sun will be down soon, and I must be at cable car before nightfall… goodbye, sweetheart."

Click… Jill's whole body tensed up when she felt the whole rifle move from him pulling the trigger, but instead of feeling a bullet pass through her neck, the young woman felt nothing at all while the weapon made a clicking sound. It wasn't the same sound as if it were empty, but sounding more like a jam, and… and holy shit, his weapon jammed! Leaning forward, and kicking the office chair back toward him as hard as she could, nearly making him lose balance when it hit him in the legs, Jill grabbed his rifle and tried to wrestle it from his grip.

Nikolai was still off balance, and she actually succeeded in twisting the jammed weapon around in his hands until it fell to the floor. Now that there was no danger of getting shot, the young woman grabbed him by the shirt collar and head-butted him in the nose as hard as she could, making the Lieutenant groan in pain as she forced him to lean backwards against the long table. Twisting the front of his shirt and pulling so that it started to choke him, she still couldn't believe that her life would have ended right there if his rifle hadn't jammed… making her not feel bad about choking him to death, or…

Crash! Jill had been so intent on cutting off Nikolai's air supply, that she hadn't noticed him grabbing onto an empty beer bottle that was on the table, at least not until there was a blinding pain as the thick glass shattered across the top of her head. She lost her grip on him, and the whole room seemed to tilt sideways while her head throbbed, only to feel more pain when the Lieutenant grabbed her arm and twisted it so hard behind her back that Jill's head was bashed down onto the table.

"You… little… brat!" Nikolai spat, twisting her arm upward until she screamed. "Maybe you behave better when I break arms and legs, da?"

Jill screamed again as he wrenched on her arm, clearly serious about wanting to break it, but just as she had failed to watch every part of him, the Lieutenant was making the same mistake as the young woman took the brass knuckles out of her pocket and slipped them onto her other hand. Whack! Maybe it wasn't as dramatic as a shattering beer bottle, but it certainly made her feel better when she was able to twist herself out of his arm-hold at the right moment and bring the weapon she had taken from Marvin's office right across his face.

This time the Lieutenant stumbled away, crying out loudly in pain as he fell over another desk that was against the wall, and giving Jill the moment that she needed to catch her breath while spitting out some blood. She couldn't believe how selfish and cruel this… this asshole was, putting money ahead of survival of the group… just like Wesker had done to STARS back at the Spencer Estate. My God, the Lieutenant was just like him… and she knew that if she let him live, he would just come after her again.

So it was decided; balling up her fist and preparing to hit him one more time with all her strength, Jill moved over behind him and swung just as Nikolai was starting to get up… only to miss completely when he ducked out of the way… only to pick up an old rotary telephone that was sitting on the desk, and slam it into the back of her head. Ding! The bell inside the old phone sounded as the young woman fell face-first onto the floor, dazed and seeing everything in double, but still able to feel when Nikolai started wrapping the phone cord around her neck.

"Get up, you bitch!" He yelled, choking her while using the cord to pull her to her feet. "You like brass knuckles, da? I give you brass knuckles."

He had taken them from her hand and put them on his own, using them to strike Jill in the stomach before dropping them and forcing her down onto the desk on her back. She tried to fight him off, but this was hard to do without being able to breathe, and now he was pulling the cord tight with one hand while unzipping her leather jacket with the other. She realized what he was trying to do to her now when he started groping her and reaching for her other clothes, but then the young woman heard something… something that was even worse than what Nikolai was trying to do to her… and it was getting closer…

Thud… thud… thud…