A/N: Please be advised, this chapter has distressing themes and briefly depicts child abuse toward the end of the chapter.
Alonzo had made several calls while the truck bounced along the path toward the town of Zepita, Peru. Jill Valentine remained quiet as her eyes stared at a fixed point along the horizon and she let her mind wander in his truck's passenger seat. The apprehension filling her gut wasn't something new to her, but it had been a long time since she'd had the feeling.
She would be without backup from any known sources and her equipment was anyone's guess. Despite those odds, the curling hand of determination in her chest was a welcome stranger.
Jill assumed from Alonzo's clipped tone in his current phone conversation that he was being very careful about what he said in front of her due to her knowledge of Spanish. She stole a look at him from the corner of her eye and studied him now in the morning light.
Alonzo must have been somewhere in his late 20's. Looking at him now, he was almost a dead ringer for Carlos. His face was a little more feminine in nature with his high cheek bones, and glow of youth. His long hair was blowing from the A/C going in the truck and when he glanced over at her with those oddly colored blue-green eyes, Jill felt a longing for Carlos hit her so deeply and she couldn't help the sad smile she let slip.
Alonzo didn't return the smile as he studied her for a moment, looked back toward the road, before glancing over at her a few times. His conversation soon ended on the phone and he slapped the device shut, tossing it down into the center console.
"They're not going to go for this." Alonzo uttered out between them.
A more modern-looking town came into view and Jill looked on at the children playing in the street while Alonzo pulled them past. She watched their laughing expressions while she thought for a moment.
"Like I said," Jill finally said, meeting his eyes. "I don't need you to come with me. I need you to arm me and point me in a direction."
"It's not just about that, Rhamnusia." He snapped with one of his hands banging on the steering wheel. "I'll let them explain it to you though. And by the way, do not tell them your real name. Just use the one you were given."
"Why?" Jill asked while not balking from his display of irritation.
"They might not know your name, but the cartel might," He provided solemnly.
The sun was beginning to crest over the land and the heat was already starting to make itself known when Jill pushed the truck door open in front of the warehouse near the edge of town. Jill noted the men leaning against the cars who were turning toward them after a moment.
"Follow my lead," Alonzo said quietly beside her.
Jill kept silent while she followed his form through the rusting double doors. Inside, several cars were lined up with their hoods popped open. One man in a dirty dark blue jumper looked up at the two of them from his position under the hood.
The rumble of a machine was echoing out from the back of the room when Jill noticed the three more men who stood at the far end.
"Alonzo," a voice called out when another man dressed in brown camo pants rounded the corner. The pistol at his side was holstered, but Jill noted the way he moved immediately.
"Arturo," Alonzo greeted with a clasping of forearms. He jerked his head toward Jill. "This is the woman I told you about. Velaria."
Arturo was only a few inches taller than Jill, but his stout form was built for power. The arteries under his skin appeared drawn in as they strained against the taut muscle of his thick neck. The dark eyes of someone in command were assessing her and Jill felt herself naturally straightening up.
"Sir," she bid respectfully with a slight nod of her head.
"What branch?" Arturo asked as he began a slow walk around her.
"Excuse me?" Jill asked, remaining still. The hackles that rose were in a tight grip that she used to maintain her composure.
"You're not hard to spot, American. What branch did you serve in? You stand with the attention of a soldier." Arturo said with a tone that revealed nothing about his thoughts.
"U.S. Army," Jill responded simply.
"Ground forces then. Specialties?" Arturo was behind her now, continuing the slow inspection.
"B&E specialist, bomb disposal, and various hand-to-hand combat styles." Jill said, falling into her old reporting role while she remained hyper focused on her environment. The men at the back of the room were walking over to them now.
"What are those combat styles?" Arturo was back in her eyeline now.
"Hapkido, Systema, Taekwondo, Krav Maga, and Hybrid Combat Jujitsu." Jill's stare met his when he rounded out in front of her.
"Why are you here?" Arturo finally asked.
"I came here for Carlos," Jill answered simply, careful not to use his last name this time. There seemed to be a timestamp on that surname now, and even if it was from his own men, she would continue to protect him.
"Did you know he was missing?" Arturo folded his large arms across his chest.
"I didn't." Jill clasped her hands behind her back and met the stare.
"So, you just happened to come at the right time?" Arturo pressed.
"The 'right time' would suggest that he is, in fact, still alive. Is that what you're telling me, sir?" Jill fired back.
Arturo remained silent this time, but Jill had always thought certain silences were telling enough. Arturo knew more than he was letting on. Maybe more than they were even sharing with Carlos' brother, Alonzo.
"Carlos is dead," One of the men called as they finally made their way up to the three of them.
Jill snapped her gaze to the sneering man with red hair.
"Do you have that confirmed?" she asked.
"Might as well be—who the fuck is this?" The same man asked, looking over at Arturo now.
"Alonzo tells me you want to be armed and sent off to your death." Arturo continued his focus without acknowledging the other man or Carlos' status.
"I don't need your men," Jill said with her anger simmering beneath the surface. She paused when one of the men behind her snickered. "As I told Alonzo, I just need firearms and directions. I will handle this on my own."
"Mmm, B&E specialist and all. Such pride, American, and you think this is still acceptable for us?" Arturo asked. "For some foreigner coming into our conflict and raising guns that we provided?"
"One or more of your men have been captured; you tell me what's acceptable, sir," Jill responded with heat now fully entering her tone.
"Watch your mouth," The man with the blue jumpsuit hissed beside her.
Jill didn't even deign the other man with a glance.
Jill's eyes briefly caught Alonzo walking up a set of stairs in the background and her nerves flared anew.
He had left her.
No one seemed to be paying attention to Alonzo when Arturo said, "Carlos knew what he was getting involved in and we can't risk everything for that. The ramifications are bigger than us. Attacking their compound near Calacoto would be death for us all if it wasn't completely destroyed. We have our orders to continue without him."
Jill's mind filed the information of the compound and waited.
"Go back to where you came from, American," Arturo said, watching her intently. "If I find out you did anything to jeopardize our home, I will personally find you and you don't want that."
The former B&E specialist was lifting her chin as she held Arturo's look.
"I remember interviewing you in 1997, Valentine," Wesker's taunting voice wavered beneath her ire. "Aside from your obvious qualifications, I had doubts about you. Do you know why I hired you overall? You always found my eyes beneath the sunglasses, and you never looked away. Not once."
Jill had faced down countless enemies to date—horrors that some of these men couldn't imagine and although she wasn't foolish enough to outright insult Arturo in his own domain, an older part of Jill seemed to be waking in her chest. Something that seemed to be opening its eyes and acknowledging what she knew.
Bioweapons required the utmost consideration when fighting against them. But men? Men were just men, and they bled every time for Jill Valentine.
Jill finally gave a solemn nod before she met the stare of each man present and took a step back toward the door. Alonzo had returned and was walking up behind Arturo before he asked something in a language she didn't understand. Her hand twisted the lever for the door when the red headed man caught her attention.
Tattoos of whorls covered the red headed man's arms, and the lightly colored ink was fetching while the lights from above hit them. He had his arms crossed over his chest while he watched her with a look Jill knew all too well. She allowed the teeth to show in her next smile and bid the man a challenge before she pushed back at the door.
Outside, the wind was picking up in the small town and Jill was lifting her head to watch the orange-colored sand shimmer in the air. Currently, she was further from Carlos than she had ever been, and he was here, right here, somewhere.
Jill swallowed a noise that would relay her painful countenance and closed her eyes while she thought.
Their visit hadn't been a complete waste of time, but if she managed to locate Carlos at the place near Calacoto, the ramifications of her actions may affect more people than she could stomach.
Carlos' dark eyes were flashing in her mind when her hand tightened at her side.
"You hang in there, Supercop I got ya." His memory in her head was stronger than ever.
Jill flinched when a hand wrapped around her upper arm and started pulling her forward. Her gaze snapped to Alonzo's beside her, and his eyes were set forward as he pulled her toward the truck. His powerful form was rigid while he walked.
"Come on, I know where we're going now. Need to make another stop though." He spoke quietly to her in Spanish. He released her arm as they neared the faded red truck, and he walked around to the driver's side.
Jill was hauling herself into the passenger side when she intelligently said, "What?"
Alonzo was shifting into first gear when he glanced at her and gave her the smile he shared with his brother.
"I said we're doing this," He answered simply.
"Alonzo, you heard what Arturo said, and you even said—" Jill uttered before he cut her off.
"I know what I said, Rhamnusia." The truck was gaining speed now. "But I changed my mind."
"Why? I can't risk having you caught up in this." Jill was twisting in her seat to watch the emotions that seemed to fly across his face before he answered.
"Arturo is withholding information. I can feel it and you probably can too. He was pissed when Carlos was put in charge several years ago. I don't want to jump to conclusions but…" Alonzo was trailing off before he shook his head while staring intently at the road while they drove.
"Carlos is my brother," Alonzo finally stated quietly. "And the only one I have left. The only family I have left. I told him to leave this shit alone but that wasn't Carlos. He wouldn't stand by if he could do something. After he watched Tonio die, something changed in him. Rightly so, but he never lost that hope. He wanted better and not just for us, but for the community."
Jill remained quiet while she listened.
"There used to be seven of us brothers and two of my older brothers had already died before Carlos and I were even born. Didn't mean there wasn't a shadow in our household—an expectation for the rest of us. We were born in this conflict and it's all most of us have ever known. How do you tell people to stop killing each other when they're trained to kill you first?" Alonzo paused and looked over at her.
"He told me about you, Jill Valentine." He turned his eyes back to the road while he navigated around a tight bend ahead. "The woman he never forgot. He told me about what you tried to do for your city. About what you continued to do. Never seen my brother smile like that before and the man smiled a lot given the shitty circumstances, alright?"
Jill was smiling softly when she became aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks.
Alonzo looked back at her and said nothing about the emotion leaking from her eyes. He seemed to understand, maybe even more than she did.
"Why did you come looking for him?" His lightly colored eyes seemed to pierce right through her when the sun hit them.
"He saved me," Jill said after clearing her throat.
"In 1998?" Alonzo asked, his brows lifting.
"Yes, then too, but he's been saving me every day for the last three years." Jill wiped her eyes and pushed her bangs from her face while she avoided that all-seeing stare. "I thought of him while I was captured, and it was…it was enough."
Alonzo's calloused hand gripped her knee and Jill looked down at it before she met the look that spoke of a pain he knew deeply. He released her leg and navigated them further through the spiraling clouds of sand while they rode in silence for a little while.
Alonzo was soon breaking the silence with a chuckle while he muttered something in that same language from the warehouse.
"What?" She asked, turning back to him from the window.
"Nothing," Alonzo was grinning now as he kept his eyes on the road. "I hope we find that bastard alive. He owes me money now."
Jill's brows furrowed but chose to let the conversation drop as the thoughts in her mind began to race once more. What they were about to do would call for a lot of careful planning that needed to happen in a matter of hours.
"Where are we going?" She asked, breaking from her own mental checklists after a moment.
"We need weapons," Alonzo replied as they pulled up to a row of houses that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
"You do know what you're doing, right?" Jill asked, swinging her head over to him. The sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable.
"Don't worry, Rhamnusia. I won't leave you in a cold, cruel, Alonzo-less world."
The startled look on her face caused him to bark out a laugh and the wheezing sound elongated while he enjoyed the continued Oliveira joke.
Jill was surprised to find a genuine laugh of her own mingling with his when she shoved his shoulder and mentally prepared for the next 24 hours.
After stocking up on the modest amount of supplies Alonzo had stored away, they both took time to clean up, eat, and take care of a few needs before they had piled their items under a tarp in the back of Alonzo's truck. Soon, they set off for the location outside of Calacoto with only a few hours left before dusk would be approaching.
Ever since their conversation on the drive for supplies, Alonzo's demeanor had altered slightly. Jill figured that charm must run in the family because his smiles were becoming more easily given, and the jokes kept a small smile at the corner of her mouth while they had checked and cleaned the weapons.
To get to the southwestern entrance to the area they needed to get to, Alonzo had taken them through the city of Calacoto. Currently, Jill was looking up at the neoclassical style buildings in awe when they were zipping through the busy streets.
When was the last time she had stopped to just take in something for its beauty?
When she couldn't rightly answer, Jill all but pressed her nose to the glass as she viewed the sparkling city.
The window in front of her started to roll down, and Jill was glancing over at Alonzo who was laughing quietly while he watched her. He alternated between navigating traffic and glancing at her.
"Didn't want drool on the windows," he explained simply.
"This was supposed to be my vacation, you know," Jill retorted before she sat back in the seat.
Alonzo gave her a sobering look with a nod before one of his hands reached over and touched her arm briefly. His long hair was curling around his shoulder as he shifted his head toward hers.
Jill laid her hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze.
"We're going to get him back." she spoke.
"You sound so sure." Alonzo was pulling off towards another section of the highway and they began to exit from the surrounding city. The mountains around them were rising like giants.
"Don't have a choice," Jill admitted quietly.
"Of course you do." She could see Alonzo staring at her from the corner of her eye when he spoke.
Jill refrained from looking at him when she said nothing more.
She looked instead to the angels that were perched outside of a church they were currently passing. The marble statues stood tall over the doors; one was armed with a bow while the other held a sword in hand. Both had their heads turned toward the street. To Jill, their hollow eyes appeared to be cast down to the floor. As if ashamed to see—afraid to see—what had entered their city. Terrified of what the Rhamnusia would bring.
When they came upon a mile marker, Alonzo was pulling the truck off toward a slightly inclined path toward the base of a mountain. Soon, the city was becoming distant before it disappeared completely around the curve of the summit.
"What is this place they're at?" Jill asked in a low tone while her eyes scanned the rolling landscape of dirt and rock.
"Not sure what it used to be, but it was turned into a slaughterhouse at some point. The cow pens are still standing but I'm pretty sure it's not held any animals for years now." Alonzo said while he pulled up to a plateau and killed the engine.
Jill was shaking her head as her stomach twisted. As a member of S.T.A.R.S. and a BSAA operative, she had seen countless things that would keep people up if they knew what humanity was capable of at times. Her time studying old case files of different levels of the cartel wasn't a comfort to her at this moment.
"Did you learn Spanish for Carlos?"
Jill blinked and paused her hand from unbuckling her seatbelt when she trained her eyes on the younger Oliveira brother.
"For Carlos? No, I knew Spanish when I met him," Jill answered.
"Ah," Alonzo said with a grin he was trying to hide. "He didn't know that, did he?"
"No." The pleased look Jill was returning back to him had both of them tilting their heads at each other and enjoying one last smile before the chaos began.
The duo walked a decent distance around the base of the mountain before Alonzo was leading Jill through the opening of a cave.
Jill paused when she noticed the many foot trails through the dirt of the cave. It was a highly traversed path and she wondered for a moment how many had come before them—looking for a family member, a friend, or it was simply the members of the organization bringing further victims through the same way.
Jill was still clenching her jaw when they emerged on the other side of the mountain and took in the valley below them. In the distance, Jill could make out a large radio tower that had two red lights blinking above.
In the midpoint between the tower and their position, sat an old looking ranch with areas that revealed dry and cracking land. Alonzo had been correct earlier; there hadn't been animals at the old slaughterhouse for a while. The fenced off area held no creatures to speak of.
Alonzo's hand curled around hers and he was pulling her down to squat beside him near two large boulders. Wordlessly, he placed a pair of binoculars in her hand.
Jill was stepping into her training while she turned back and pulled out a notebook and pen from the backpack Alonzo had loaned her from their storage houses. With the binoculars up to her eyes, she was quiet for the next hour while she jotted notes and let her eyes detail what she would need to consider. Alonzo was silent behind her while he looked through his own pair.
"Need to get closer," Jill finally murmured over the whistle of wind pushing through the cave behind them.
"Better hurry," Alonzo was placing his gear back in his own bag before he nodded toward the western horizon. "Storm is rolling in."
"Perfect." Jill was carefully moving around rocks and staying out of sight while they descended into the valley.
There was a total of nine men who were traversing the grounds. Two stood on opposing sides of the roof and would come together to speak quietly while they smoked cigarettes every hour. Six walked the grounds in a counterclockwise fashion. Every once in a while, the doors to the main gate would open and a man would come out and speak to the ninth man who would stay permanently outside the entry point.
Jill lifted her binoculars to follow the winding path of another road that let out further down to a paved street. It looked to be their main source of entry to the grounds.
Her pen stilled across the page when she took in the gated power box area and considered its make and model.
Some facilities had additional storage issues that required secondary systems for energy purposes. Storage for frozen foods or flammable items would also require additional assistance for emergency purposes. Those structures needed to make allowances when their electrical power systems were designed in order to ensure that the power requirements were taken care of, including back-up systems. A generator was an ideal back-up, especially for systems that required continuous energy; a generator could provide an instant solution for cold storage units. On the other hand, some structures were designed to allow for local environmental factors, such as heat or rain.
With the constant watch, she would need to control what she could with limited data on the structure and make the power outage look like a simple fault in circumstances.
Jill's eyes slowly lifted to the cloudy sky and a small smile grew at the corner of her mouth.
Hours had passed and the storm that had been on the western front was hanging across the sky above them both now. Jill could smell the rain in the air when she reviewed her notes one last time and then began strapping the gun in its holster.
"Plan?" Alonzo asked in a whisper.
"Radio tower," Jill responded without looking at him. "I'll need you to shut that down before I make a move for the power box. I need to stay and make sure I don't miss a rotation with their men."
"You want me to kill the radios? That spans for most of this valley. We won't be able to call for help should anything go wrong." Alonzo was watching her carefully.
"Who would we radio for help?" Jill asked.
"That's not the point," Alonzo said in exasperation. "This all seems crazy."
"I know," Jill said with easy severity. "But crazy is all we've got."
"And after?" he pressed.
"After that," Jill was finally meeting his eyes when she spoke next. "I want you to wait here with the sniper."
"Jill, I'm not letting you go in there alone."
Jill was silent for a moment as she thought of her next words.
"You ever heard of the five Sullivan brothers or the American Sole Survivor policy?" Jill asked when she turned her focus back down to the valley.
"No," Alonzo stated impatiently.
"In World War 2, five blood brothers were all aboard the same Navy ship when it sunk—effectively ending a family line in one fell swoop. Parents lost their five sons, and a family name was lost to wartime history." Jill's sharp eyes were taking in the many changing variables of their situation.
"You are the last living Oliveira if Carlos is already dead, Alonzo. I will not dishonor your family or my friendship with him by allowing you to follow me into this. If you see me go down or I don't come back out, you take that truck and don't look back." The sharp eyes she possessed were turning back toward his. "Do you understand?"
"That's not your decision to make." he declared, leaning toward her with anger lighting those blue-green eyes.
"Sure it is," Jill said calmly. "It's part of command and you need to know when loss of life is worth it. I don't even know if Carlos is in there, Alonzo. Besides, I need you up here if I make it out. I'll need the cover."
Alonzo was looking down at the dirt at their feet and didn't say anything else until the first drops of rain began to patter around them in a staccato.
"Sunset in 30," Alonzo bit out beside her.
Jill didn't turn to him when he began to pack up and double check his own holsters. He would be making for the radio tower shortly.
"Hey," Alonzo said, making her lift her head to him then. "No matter how this goes…I'm really glad I got to meet you, Jill Valentine."
A slight smile was lifting the left side of Jill's face when she said softly, "The feeling is mutual, Alonzo Oliveira."
"Don't leave this spot until I get back." Alonzo's Adam's apple bobbed at his throat when he spoke. He hesitated only a moment more before he ducked below toward the rocks and towards the portion of the valley that would take him to the blinking tower.
Worry was starting to turn in Jill's gut when another hour had passed. She paused when she noticed the blinking red light had stopped at the distant radio tower.
It was now solid red.
Shifting dirt in the settling darkness had the hair on Jill's arms standing on end. Her hand curled around at the magnum holstered at her back.
"It's me," Alonzo's voice called.
Jill squinted to make out his features in the darkness and she touched his arm when he squatted down beside her.
"All clear. Radio contact will be down for a few hours at least." He panted from his climb and his haste.
"Good work," she praised softly before standing to her feet. "My turn."
The last vestiges of light had disappeared over the horizon. The cool air was beginning to settle over the valley when Jill was strapping her pack to her back. She heard the dirt shifting behind her as Alonzo stood. The click of shifting gun metal told her he had accepted her plan and would wait with the sniper while she descended below.
"Be careful," Was Alonzo's only advice and when Jill squinted to make out his features in the darkness, she swore she could see the fear transforming his face.
Using the balls of her feet, Jill crept down the mountainside as the rain around her picked up in speed. A lightning bolt arced across the sky, and it briefly illuminated her eyes that were narrowed in concentration.
There were two things she was aware of at that moment. One, she was more than likely going to have to kill people tonight and she didn't know what she'd be if she managed to make it out. Two, she would be falling back on training from the military, the S.T.A.R.S. but most of all, the teachings of Albert Wesker.
There had been no greater foe than the blond tyrant who had nursed her back to health and continued to push her body to extremes that almost mentally and physically broke her. Albert Wesker had taught her the limits of her body and what it was capable of. There was no denying the knowledge would be useful but even more so, how lethal she currently was.
If the American government ever found out what she was doing here, the ramifications would be more than just her status of the BSAA.
While waiting for one of the men walking the perimeter to pass, Jill studied the small shack with the symbols that signified it was connected to a nearby transformer. When the man was far enough away, she watched for a second before she slipped up to the structure and quietly stepped inside.
A man stood with his back to her, and he spun around at the noise of her entry. With a thoughtless step, Jill fell into the role she had played for the last three years and spun to land a spinning back kick to the man's stomach, effectively knocking the wind from him.
The sound of his heavy body knocking into the metal hub of the equipment was drowned out by the pounding rain on the surrounding tin roof.
Jill side-stepped his next reaching grab and wound her arm around his while compressing his wrist and causing him to bow at the knees. An elbow jab cut the sound of his gasping cry before Jill used her momentum to slide around to his side and getting her second arm up under his other one. Pressure around his throat cut his words and airway short when she positioned her choke hold; the man's gloved hands were clawing for air.
Sometimes, all it took for a person to pass out with the carotid arteries blocked was 10 seconds, but they would usually regain consciousness pretty quickly. Jill was gritting her teeth while she held the choke hold even after he stopped responding. Cerebral hypoxia would cause cell death in the brain rather quickly and thus take the victim much longer to regain consciousness. The man may or may not have lasting injuries, but Jill figured it would give her enough time to decide if he would be a larger threat later on.
Jill dropped his body and stared down at him for a moment before she reached into her side pouch and yanked out the zip ties she had taken from Alonzo's storage unit. When she leaned down to tie his hands, she could hear his struggling breaths resume.
"We can't leave anyone alive," Alonzo had said quietly to her only hours ago.
"I can't go in there and just kill everyone before I know we have the right place. That isn't justice, Alonzo."
"Justice doesn't look the same for people like us, Rhamnusia."
"What does it look like then?"
He didn't have an answer for her.
Nimble fingers were flipping the switches for the power, and Jill felt when the dull hum surrounding the complex suddenly disappeared beneath her feet.
With the power off, she slid out her combat knife and sliced through a barely detectable portion of the cables at the base of the unit box before she turned to leave. When they inspected the unit, it would simply look like a power outage from the storm.
Jill's eyes caught on the unconscious man once more. His polyester poncho was a Mil-Tec Ripstop and a large one at that. Knowing she only had so much time, Jill cut the zip ties on his hands and tore the garment from the man's body before she added a secondary zip tie and shrugged the poncho over her torso.
When she lifted a hand to flip the hood over her head, Jill paused in her oncoming memory.
Wesker had made her wear the plague doctor mask after her trials had completed with the P30. When she still had some of her faculties left, he would laugh at her eyes staring at the mask on the table.
"Man is a false god and are abhorrent in their fear; subjected to very same predator avoidance behavior as any common animal." He had picked up the mask to study to eyepieces before he tossed it at her. "When children cry, we simply give name to the fears they already know. Give them what they fear, Ms. Valentine."
Jill flipped up the hood and when it was in place, only her mouth was visible beneath the hood. Her lips wobbled for a moment and then went still with the hardening of her jaw.
Jill was quick as she dragged the body of the man out from the shack and carefully hid him in the brush nearby. She would have little time before they realized he couldn't be accounted for.
She listened as far off shouts were echoing across the large space. Confusion over the loss of power would disrupt their rotations, but Jill was quiet while she waited in the brush next to the still form of the guard she had knocked out. When she saw her chance, she climbed the ladder to the roof and disappeared up and over the rim of the building.
The two men that had been smoking in the space earlier weren't anywhere to be found. A stairway alcove sat at the far end of the roof, and Jill surmised that they had returned inside once the power had cut out. It was rather dark on the roof; the emergency lights were only on the sides of the building.
Jill kept crouched low when she made it toward the ventilation for the smoke runoff of the slaughterhouse crematory system. Flipping the multitool open in her palm, Jill was swift while she unscrewed the vent and carefully slipped inside with a small clink of the replaced grate.
With the lurch of her stomach, Jill took in the smell of charred flesh, and she silently prayed it was from an animal's remains rather than a human.
But she knew better.
It took the man in the second-floor hall 6 minutes to move from his position and begin his rotation further down the L-shaped corridor. Cold fingers were working her multitool carefully between the blades of the grate in front of her. When the metal was bent far enough for Jill's arm to slip through, her fingertips flipped the clasps upwards, and the vent cover popped off with a small groan.
Jill would have been worried about the noise if it weren't for the screams that were echoing down the hall and the hum of a generator that someone had started up as soon as she came down the vent only minutes ago.
Someone was screaming in long drawn-out cries, but Jill was having trouble making out what they were saying. The voice was high pitched like an animal, and it was a guttural sound that humans only made in great fear or pain.
With a clenched jaw, Jill was eyeing the stairs to the lower levels on the left, but the screams in her ears were pulling her feet to the right, and toward the bend of the L-shaped hall.
With her knife still in hand, her steps were quiet and calculated when she peaked down the hall to spot several doors against each wall. Cables were running from a generator that sat out in the hall. The mud tracked wheels let her know that this had been a recent move for the device. Whoever was using it had a great need to maintain power to something.
The space beneath each door she passed was dark except for one. As she neared the door with bright blue light spilling out from the bottom crevice, the screams became a crescendo from beyond the door.
Hoping the screams would mask her entry, Jill placed her hand on the brass knob, and slowly pushed the door open.
The next several minutes would always be difficult for Jill to recall. In her old age, when she would remember it, there would be certain details that came into stark clarity. One of them being when she decided that she would kill an uninfected person purposely and enjoy it when she did.
The blue light poured out into the hall when the door opened slowly. Several TV monitors sat facing the door. Out of the seven monitors sitting upon the desk, only one had a picture going.
The screams continued but it was then Jill realized they weren't coming from the monitor.
On the far-left side of the room, a dirty black sheet had been hung over a second doorway. Pale, yellow light was peeking through the sides of the heavy looking fabric.
Jill still couldn't make out what the screaming person was saying with the hum of the generator in the hall also in her ears.
A figure was thrashing on the monitor when Jill closed the door behind her, effectively quieting most of the direct noise from the generator.
Stepping over the crisscrossing of wires on the ground now, the sight on the monitor was barely transmuting to her shocked brain when the screaming voice began to speak again.
This time, Jill could make out every word.
It was coming from just beyond the curtain.
"Noooo—nooo—mommy help me!" The high-pitched screaming was that of a child.
The figure on the screen showed the child in high detail as a man was bent over her; his hands furiously working at something on her small leg. Red splotches of blood were pooling around the sides of the long, dirty, reclined chair that a girl no more than 6 years old sat in. Her black hair was matted in thick clumps, and the dirt and grime could still be seen on her bronze skin.
The way the child's face was contorted in pain wasn't a look that belonged on the features of one so young. The skin on her face was stretched tight while she begged for her mother to stop the greatest monster she may not have considered in her young life—other people.
"Please, stop—Stop!" Every word was punctuated with the guttural sound she had heard in the hall.
Jill could feel the goosebumps rising on her skin in an anger that rose so quickly it was making her lightheaded and worse yet, compromised.
The man in the next room and on the current screen paused and looked back at the camera that was evidently set up for something other than a medical means. His sneering smile was full of crooked teeth and the malicious intent meant to destroy families.
Working in the army, Jill was familiar with the practice that sometimes happened with prisoners of war. Torture videos hadn't been something she had seen a lot of, but she knew what their objective was when an entity was trying to rouse anger, fear, or receive a return on a ransom.
Jill's whole body felt numb when she straightened slowly; the fingers on her knife tightening like the coiling of a serpent.
Without a thought to stealth, Jill's shaking hand pulled the curtain back and peered into the nightmare beyond.
At her entrance, the small child was turning her impossibly wide and frightened eyes on Jill while she wailed. The tiny muscles in the child's neck were straining while she screamed in pain.
The B&E specialist took in the severed limb on the table next to the man, his bloody gloved hands, and the crude tourniquet that kept the child's blood from spilling above her now stubbed knee.
The blinking red light on the Betamax camcorder to the right was hitting Jill's vision while her hand twitched at her side and the old creature that was her hatred opened its eyes in her chest.
Hurting the weak was something tantamount to the admission of guilt in the soul for Jill; an immediate sentence to be ruled. Those who would do harm upon the young and the old were to be kept far from the only daughter of Richard Anthelme Valentine.
"We protect the weak, Jill," her father had told her one sunny afternoon when she sat as a young girl watching him peel an orange with his old pocket knife. The lilting tone of his French words living on through Jill now. "Especially the young."
Her father had paused and looked her in the eye before he quoted the same thing he had for years, "'The strong should aid and protect the weak. Then, the weak will become strong and they, in turn, will aid and protect those weaker than them. That is the law of nature.'"
The Betamax camcorder continued to blink and record. It would record his crimes and hers when Jill Valentine felt her resolve snap.
Blink. The man was standing to his feet when he saw her, knocking over his chair.
Blink. The child was sobbing, her tiny hand reaching toward Jill.
Blink. The flick of a trained wrist found the combat knife buried in the man's neck before he could speak.
Had the man lived to tell people what he saw, he would have detailed the wraithlike woman with eyes like death beneath a hood and the vicious way she regarded him before he choked on his own blood.
Alonzo had been right; justice had many different forms.