Chapter: 5 In My Name
By the time they reached the main bridge the young boy Malachi was nowhere to be found, and the room fortunately hadn't been touched in the attack.
"It's too quiet for my liking." Jake said in a hushed tone as he waited for Sherry to enter so he could dead bolt the door.
"You're right, something's wrong." She replied glancing around the room that was still lit. The guns from the shelves were gone and only flash grenades remained, 'Some good they are.' She thought hazily noticing one particular screen flashing on and off, the image bright with a white lorry with the Umbrella logo on the side.
"The security tapes," Jake said hastily putting his gun into its holster on his long leg, before tapping the buttons on the panel with his free hand, hitting play.
The screen showed the main gate, a huge blast erupted from behind it and the doors swung off their hinges; people stood around gazing unbeknownst at the horror that was about to befall them.
Children began to run in panic as J'avo darted into the campus with guns, the first wave of J'avo killed the men who tried with all their might to protect the women and children. The second wave was very different, the guns they gripped fired a range of white bullets; the rounds hit the citizens and they fell to the floor - seemingly dead, if only god would be that kind. Soon after their bodies hit the floor, they were rising again - some mutating incredibly as others became simple mindless zombies.
"Oh man, this gets worse!" Jake cried out in frustration when he saw Jeeves being hauled away by three masked J'avo.
"I can't believe they've managed to put the virus into guns."
"Well you better believe it, Sherry. All those people, good people… Dead for no reason." Jake fumed slamming his fist onto a nearby table.
Seeing this broke Sherry's heart, when she first met him she never knew he could feel, considering how un-emotional and hard he was, yet here he was saving people instead of killing them for money and getting upset when they died.
"I'm sorry Jake. This must be hard for you."
"Hmph, I've seen-" He stopped mid sentence, shifting his gaze to an air vent. "Worse..." Sherry's big blue eyes questioned him silently as his brows creased further. "We need to get out of here." He said under his breath before kicking in the vent, and taking her hand leading them into it.
"Do you know where this leads?" She asked from behind him while trying to keep her mind off his bum wiggling in front of her, her thoughts becoming a nuisance with all the immature filth it was conjuring at inappropriate times.
"Pavilion Gardens… well, not gardens anymore! Just dust."
"Kind of a strange place for an escape exit."
"Maybe, but… if it gets you to safety, what does it matter?" He asked with a short laugh.
Sherry kept checking her phone every now and then for a signal to her GPS at the same time maintaining an eye on the time, it was almost 2pm and they'd already been crawling an hour with no let up in sight.
Small chatter broke out between them as they discuss what they had been doing for the past month when a loud noise came from ahead, to which they both stopped instantly.
The thought of being confined in a small space with a BOW was not a pleasant thought.
"Stay back!" A small voice said when Sherry shone her torch up the shaft, finding it to be a small child hiding within a small inlet in the metal tubing.
"Hey, it's alright…" Jake answered calmly before shuffling forwards to the cowering figure.
"Mr… Jake?!" The little one cried.
"Malachi." Sherry whispered in sync with Jake, both relieved to have come across the young boy. "I'm so glad you managed to escape." She said, expressing enough happiness through her words for the both of them.
"I locked myself in that room when the monsters broke the gate." He replied softly in perfect English. She hadn't heard him speak until now so it caught her off guard, nonetheless it didn't surprise her a great deal - not with how much elegance and grace he had just guiding her to Jake.
"Through the monitors I watched the horrors… Once everyone disappeared with the monsters that attacked I unlocked the door for when you… if you came back, and I crawled into here… It seems to be the only safe place, Mr Jake."
"Alright kid, let's get out of here then."
The dark haired female sat on a far off building, where she kept watch over Wesker Junior and Agent Birkin.
For a few fleeting moments she believed they had been lost to the recent attack on the safe house, but observing the chopper land just outside the city and the two seeing off a small child - she guessed not.
"Out living your fathers reputation to survive I see." She mused aloud as she tossed a stray dark hair from her face, standing back up to make her way to the hospital.
"Sherry will be fine Claire." Leon reassured when Claire had heard the news of her mission in the Middle East.
"I don't know Leon, I have a bad feeling."
"She's with Jake. He'll protect her with his life… I know it."
"Ah yes." She grimaced, gripping onto the steering wheel tighter. "The son of Wesker."
"He's nothing like his father Claire. I've already told you that."
"Even so. I don't like Sherry being out there… It's not safe."
"Sherry's stronger than you know." Leon continued batting for Sherry's corner as she wasn't there to do it for herself, normally Leon would completely agree with Claire; he remembered first seeing her in China after the plane crash, and his blood went cold. The person he and Claire almost died trying to save in Raccoon City was just going to throw her life away? As much as it upset him, it had made him angry. "She knows what she's doing."
"No she doesn't Leon!" She screamed in frustration.
"Claire she's not a child anymore. Sherry's almost 30, we were her age when we saved her."
"She isn't us Leon. Stop trying to make this rational."
"I'm not." He retorted through clenched teeth. "I'm just saying she ca-"
"Stop it!" Claire shouted as she finally succumbed to tears, "She's like a sister to me and you! How can you be okay with all this!?"
He didn't know how to answer. "Because I have to be."
"C'mon Supergirl! Tell me!" Jake smirked, he could tell he was getting to her by the look on her face. All he wanted to know was what happened to the BSAA guy and his assistant, and why the jar head hadn't retired yet.
"Drop it Jake."
"Is it really that bad?" He laughed insensitively, not knowing the outcome of the Underwater Facility.
"Yes."
"Well then! I'm all the more interested." He pushed on, finally getting on her last nerve on the subject.
"Piers died saving Chris, Jake."
Jake didn't know how to take the news, he wasn't expecting that so he just stayed silent for awhile collecting his thoughts.
"Ugh, I'm… I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean." He scratched his head nervously.
"Save it for when you see Chris."
Sherry's words were like venom and struck his nerves greatly, but he decided not to let it show. 'So the jar head got himself killed, huh? Damn.' He thought of the giant cocooned creature named, Haos. 'What a way to go.'
The voyage to the hospital was unusually quiet, only two Strelat's and a couple of roaming J'avo was encountered. It didn't sit right with the pair after seeing the chaos Umbrella had caused that day.
The hospital itself was in a bizarrely good condition; most the windows were intact and the structure other than being weather-beaten was perfect.
"I don't like this feeling I'm getting."
"It's as if we're being watched." Sherry replied to his level-headed dry remark.
From outside the glass doors they could just make out the reception desk some feet away; the whole place was empty and sandy, just like everywhere else.
"Well… After you Madame." Jake smirked coyly as he opened the rusted door for her, watching her hips sway as she walked. "Do you have to walk like that?"
"Yes." She said simply with a small wink.
"What…" She whispered in disbelief as her eyes fell on the sight before her. Doctors and nurses were everywhere, rushing around to various rooms while some patients slugged about in their robes. 'This doesn't make any sense!'
"May I help you?" The receptionist asked looking to the pair, "Are you hurt?" "What's going on, Jake? This place was empty a second ago!"
"…Not sure. Stay on your guard." He whispered to her letting his eyes roam the place.
"Ngh…"
"Sherry!" Jake shouted when Sherry slumped down a nearby wall clutching her head, "What's wrong?"
"Sudden migraine." She replied, "I need air." He nodded putting an arm around her waist to support her walk, this wasn't right. 'Could she even have headaches?' At the same time they were walking out Jake couldn't help but absorb everything around him, the Doctors, the nurses, the rooms, the air vents. Something wasn't right here. It was when he opened the door for Sherry he knew it - rather, he saw it.
He took in the fresh desert air and a big gust of wind blew through the double doors bringing a huge dust cloud with it, he brought Sherry into his chest to protect her from the sand, and had turned his back so he wouldn't be effected by it either. Just as the gust billowed throughout the hospital entrance and he took in more sandy air the scene before him disappeared, and the empty area they had seen outside was revealed.
Abruptly a huge noise behind them cut their thoughts short when the dust settled, and an army of J'avo were running down the street with machetes and stun rods.
UPDATED: 14/01/2015 - Spelling, Grammar & Minor story enhancement.