Chapter 4

"Thanks for coming in for an interview," the supervisor I had met the day before stood up to shake my hand again. "Can I get you some water or anything?"

"No thank you," I replied. "I would like to know why you offered someone you just met a job though."

"You want the honest truth?" He asked me as we both sat down.

"I prefer cold hard truth to the sweetest of lies," I replied with a shrug. "So hit me."

"You're disposable," the supervisor said grimly. "I've got the mayor, Michael Warren, Police Chief Irons, and the head of this new STARS team up my ass trying to get one of my paramedics assigned to be permanently on call for their operations," the man sighed. "You look like you can handle yourself, and clearly you know how to handle emergency situations at the very least. You get a job, the Police get their medic, and I get everyone off my back without losing any of my people."

"Do you have a deadline?" I asked as I leaned forward. "I'm assuming that everything is tied to funding and you'll lose some if you don't fill those requirements."

"Yeah," the weary man seated across from me replied as he sagged in his chair. "If I don't have anyone for the job in a couple of months then we have to cut a couple of people from our already limited workforce."

"I'm only certified in basic emergency care," I pointed out. "Should anyone look too closely then this could all fall apart on you."

"We'll run you through a basic course and get you certified," he replied. "It'll be extremely long hours, but at the end of the month, you'll be able to do the job that they're asking for without any issues. We'll get you signed onto the contract and in a couple of months you'll be pulling a paycheck from the hospital and the police department without us having to lose the teams that we already have."

"Can I see a copy of the contract?" I asked. "And can I get a couple of hours to look it over and think before making a decision?"

"Of course!" He replied as he pulled a stack of paper stapled together and handed it to me. "Take the rest of the week if you need to if necessary."

–

–

"Alright, what does this section here mean?" I asked the supervisor as I looked over some portions of the contract with him. "I'm okay with training with them and learning how to operate with them. But I don't want to have to pay for the training, they want me bad enough they can cover the costs of both the weapon and the training."

"Let's rewrite that section then, and I'll fax it over to Wesker so that he can look it over," the supervisor said as we rewrote that and printed it out to be faxed.

"You alright?" He asked as he saw me grip my head in pain for a minute.

"Yeah, just a migraine," I replied for a minute before focusing on everything again. "That name sounded familiar for a second. Though I'm not sure where I remember hearing it from."

"Wesker?" The supervisor asked. "Unless you're keeping up with Raccoon City politics I don't know how you'd have heard of him."

"I'm not sure either," I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose to help drive the migraine away. "But we need to focus on getting this contract straightened out before we move onto anything else."

"You're okay with being armed as a medic?" The supervisor asked with a look of surprise on his face. "Most of my people wouldn't be comfortable with that."

"As long as I get to keep the rifle and handgun that I get to use then I am absolutely okay with being a regular member of their SWAT or STARS teams," I replied as the headache began to ease. " Now let's get this contract approved and get me working."

"The motel and per diem should cover your food and any expenses that occur during your training," the supervisor outlined the new part of the contract that we had worked out. "But you won't get your regular salary until you start working with the RPD."

"As long as I've got enough to get a place to sleep and enough to eat I should be good," I replied. "I guess now we wait for the changed contract to be approved?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't take long," The supervisor said with a grin. "I'm predicting that they give it a glance over and then send back the approval just because they're tired of having to wait for me to gift wrap one of my people for them."

"I'm gonna head over to McDonald's and grab a cup of coffee in the meantime," I told the other man. "You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," he shook his head. "The coffee here might be trash, but it's what I'm used to."

"Fair enough," I said as I slung my pack over my shoulders once again. "I'll be back in a half-hour or so."

–

–

"Well, they didn't make any additions or changes to our modified contract," the supervisor greeted me as I sipped on my coffee. "Looks like you've got yourself a job."

"Thanks," I replied. "I'll sign that and then head over to get a bus pass," I pulled out my pen and read everything over once more before signing my life away for the next couple of years. "I'll need reliable transportation if you want me here early for the training."

"Sounds good," the supervisor smiled as if a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. "We'll get you in here at seven sharp to start running you through the crash course."

"A hundred and twenty hours crammed into twenty-four consecutive days," I deadpanned. "Can't wait."

"The paycheck will be worth it," he replied. "Umbrella subsidizes just about everything in this town, and there are some definite kickbacks to using their products out in the field."

"I'll just stick to whatever works," I replied. "I'm not looking to get sued over trying something experimental that gets people killed."

"I'll be here in the morning," I replied as I left the office that I had just spent around four hours in. "See you then."

Leaving the hospital, I beelined straight for the nearest pharmacy.

"Where is the over-the-counter stuff for headaches?" I asked the cashier. "I've got a killer migraine and need something to help stave it off long enough for me to get stuff done."

"Over on aisle three," She replied. "Should be around the middle of the aisle."

"Thank you," I replied as I beelined it to aisle three and began to look for some aspirin, Excedrin, or some ibuprofen. "Fuck," I muttered under my breath as the pain spiked every time I saw an Umbrella Corp logo on something. "That'll do," I grabbed something that was being marketed as the "ultimate migraine relief" from the shelf and headed to the counter. "I'll take this please," I handed her the cash and accepted my change and the receipt before opening the bottle of pills and popping two in my mouth as the directions instructed. Dry swallowing the pills I left the pharmacy and tucked the bottle of headache meds into my pack.

"Let's go back to the motel and bed down, if my head is this bad now then it might get worse and I need to be on my A-Game tomorrow," I muttered as I began the walk to get a bus pass first, and then head to the motel to grab some sleep.