Chapter 7: Still Waters Run Deep

"Take that you piece of shit!" Jake shouted as he took out a zombie loitering towards them, as it fell to the floor it exploded sending acid everywhere.

"Argh! Get it off! It burns!" Sherry screamed as she got caught in the crossfire of the acid, flailing her arms about in a blur.

"Calm down. It'll wear off in a sec or two." Jake replied nonchalantly.

"What the hell do you mean it'll wear off!" She bawled back in anger, wasn't he at all bothered she was in pain and being scalded badly by his hands. He shrugged blinking. She'd noticed his personality had changed since their "moment" in that room, he had become more like when she first met him - it was really starting to tick her off.

"Jake! Wait!" She had to shout as he jogged away from her towards a door that was bolted shut.

"They really don't want us getting in." He grunted as he shot off the locks with a dark frown followed with a swift kick to break the door down.

Poking his head through the space he checked for the undead, when satisfied they were alone he moved out, again leaving Sherry behind.

"Fuck you." She whispered watching him walk away, so she decided to reload her gun at a snail's pace and lag on purpose to spite him. 'What the hell's got into him all of a sudden! Have I said something to piss him off?!'

In the distance she heard him break down more doors with his strong legs and infiltrate the place on his own, 'Screw him! Let him get into trouble and beg me to come running.' She laughed sadistically in her head, although feeling very childish about the way she was dealing with the situation.

When Sherry worked in a team whether it big or small she always brought them together, she would always tell them they were a team and they were to stick together no matter the odds… but this new change hers and Jake's relationship was something she didn't know how to handle. If she'd done something wrong then yes, she could understand it, but she hadn't. Pushing these thoughts to the side she smiled to herself, putting on a brave face and began to jog down the route Jake had taken a few minutes ago.

"What were you doing back there?" He asked his face contorted into a grimace of disgust, and when she didn't answer him he just huffed and turned his back to her staring at his gun.

Again an awkward silence opened but, Sherry wasn't going to speak to him when he was in a savage mood, and apparently found her very presence revolting, therefore she walked past him, sharply butting into his arm with her shoulder as she took the lead.

"Send in the Widow."

Sherry stopped dead in her tracks a few rooms later as she heard it, Jake followed behind her with his eyebrows knit together. "Who was that?" He mouthed at her, but she shook her head in response; eyes whizzing around to find the source of the voice but none was found.

"Come on." Jake whispered, quickening his pace into the next room.

"Jake! Wait! You don't know what's -"
"Oh shit."

Sherry sighed heavily her gun at the ready to see what the commotion was.

A tall naked woman was standing in the room, or rather tied to the ceiling by large metal handcuffs; her head tilted down limply and covered by a traditional Islamic black veil.

"Is she alive?" Sherry asked Jake, who shook his head.

"Welcome Agent Birkin, Agent Wesker." The voice resounded as before. "Indeed I know why you are here. You are here to stop Neo-Umbrella, the greatest threat to the planet, but don't you see we're the ones helping it. My Family will eradicate the useless of the world and bring in a new era of peace… To create a perfect humanity - That has always been our wish. Your father was the closest thing to perfect, Wesker Junior…"

"Albert Wesker wasn't even human when he died! He had been mutated horrifically!" Sherry yelled not knowing if this mysterious person would be able to hear.

"He was sorely missed but his legacy will carry on."

"He can't hear us." Jake muttered after realizing this guy was yapping on and on about how wonderful Umbrella was and is. "I've had enough of this shit." Jake continued before grabbing Sherry's free hand and pulling her carefully past the dead lady towards a submarine like door with a huge wheel lock and handle.

"Oh, you won't be leaving so easily Mister and Madame." The man laugh hysterically, 'This guy sounds like -'

"I have prepared a little present for you…" The woman behind the two agents jolted upright and begun to scream, her back began to bubble as small lumps started to form.

Even after seconds, Sherry couldn't stand the screams anymore, it was horrifying; she clamped her hands over her ears to try muffling out the sound.

"You see she is quite beautiful, I call her… The Widow." The man explained once the screams had stopped, both Jake and Sherry had raised their weapons at it.

The woman hunched over nearly onto all fours as the cuffs released her, the new 'bubbles' on her back started to burst as other things pierced through her skin. Cocoons. Tiny glowing cocoons. Hundreds of them.

"Kill them."

Once the orders had been given the woman staggered to her feet and turned to stare at the two; more than one set of eyes could be seen through the slit in her veil. Previously, they had also thought her skin to be normal; thinking she had just been left there to die, but the huge abnormal pulsing veins up her stomach, breasts and legs told otherwise as well as the thin layer of slime covering her flesh.

"What is that?"

"The new C-Virus mutation?" Sherry explained with a questioning tone, she wasn't sure, but the Chrysalid forms on the Widows back confirmed it to be the C, but this was something they'd never seen before.

"Well I wonder how it reacts to guns?" Jake chatted cheerfully taking the first shot, hitting the Widow square in the neck and it barely reacted as most of its vocal chords were blown away, and dark almost congealed blood flooded down it's chest. "Tough guy huh." He shrugged emptying a round into its ugly body. "Still nothing!" Jake roared as his temper started to rise.

"Jake…" Sherry muttered at his side to be ignored. "Jake… JAKE!" She shouted finally getting his attention he shrugged, "It's back! Look!". The chrysalides where his bullets had gone through and hit were shivering and beginning to open, more like unwrapping themselves like a slow-mo flower opening in the sun.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked, Sherry didn't have time to answer even if she had one, because the Widows arm had extended towards her, lunging for her throat. She dived to the side as did Jake, taking aim, she started to fire at its arm eventually making it retract from its abnormal vine-like reach.

A subtle high-pitched screech came from the Widows vertebrae as the unfolding chrysalides detached themselves from its creator.

Tiny moth like creatures took to the air and flew into a grate up above, while some advanced towards Sherry. Getting to her feet she attempted to bat them away with her hand only to be bitten.

"Argh! They bite?" Jake hollered dumbfound watching Sherry keep calm and shoot it off her, replacing her gun with the Stun Rod; waving it in the air relentlessly to fry the small bugs.

"You get rid of her and I'll see off these." She ordered receiving a curt nod.

Jake battled the Widow with the brunt force of a shotgun whilst Sherry fought with the Moth-like insects; which wasn't as easy as it should have been as she had to keep dodging to and fro because the lady creature seemed adamant on strangling her.

"Jesus Christ!" Jake yelled aghast when his bullets ripped the veil to shreds revealing its face; many eyes covered the females head varying from big to small. It looked like the J'avo's but these eyes were dripping, as if it was crying. Her mouth had been sewn almost completely shut except for a small part in the middle where its tongue kept darting out, just like a snakes.

Sherry hearing Jake yell took her eyes off the tiny creatures for a second and they were on her, biting and nibbling.
"Help! Help me!" She cried struggling to push them off.

"I have my hands full!"

She noticed he wasn't lying, the Widow had him pinned up a wall her arm stretched to the max from the other side of the room as she neared him, swaying her hips almost seductively. Sherry kept on thrashing against the painful gnawing finally getting herself free by falling to the floor, and rolling over three times into Jake's direction, squashing all the bugs.

"I'm here!" She said to the still detained Jake even as his persistent aims and shooting did nothing to the monster.

The Widow creature didn't even notice Sherry's presence as she neared, the tongue darting out its mouth faster and longer ready to impale Jake if it got any closer. "You aren't getting him!" She yelled at the same time as her foot came up and collided with the creatures stomach, sending it flying.

He expressed his thanks with a nod once his feet hit the floor, making sure to thank her properly after.

"This is the end of the line for you." He grimaced moving in closer to the BOW, aiming his shotgun directly at the creatures head and pulled the trigger.

Shards of its skull and bits of brain splattered the surrounding area behind her, and she fell to her knees face first into the concrete floor, creating a huge black puddle of oozing blood where it's head used to be.
"Thank god that's over." He said proudly cricking his neck to see Sherry shaking next to him looking paler than ever.

"What's wrong?" He asked putting a hand on her shoulder to get shoved away forcefully, her eyes were fraught for some reason. "I was only trying to help." He murmured angrily letting her walk to the door they hadn't been through yet, reloading her handgun.

They continued through the hospital getting deeper and deeper into the compound that seemed to have no end.

Sherry kept a constant note of the time it was nearly 4am they hadn't eaten of slept for a long time and she wasn't in the best condition after the run in with those bugs. 'What have they done?' She thought as another wave of sickness spread through her body, 'I'm not supposed to be sick!'

"We're coming up on a hall." She told Jake in a hushed voice, he who'd been silent since she'd shunned him back in that room.

No response. 'I don't need him knowing I feel unwell.' She kept going, running laps around herself again. 'But if there is something wrong, he should know. He'd only worry, and abandon the mission. You shouldn't have pushed him away.'

"Only 500 yards." She informed again feeling a little better, 'thankfully.'

"Why'd you push me away back there?" Annoyance run amok in his voice.

"Huh? What?" She asked, pretending to be dumb to the matter.

"Don't act innocent with me Sherry. You pushed me away when I could tell something was up."

"Did I? I wasn't aware th-"

"Do you really wanna lie to me?"

"I wasn't aware that I had done." Sherry pressed on feeling irritated.

She couldn't see it but the grip on his handgun was at breaking point, the metal was coming apart under the pressure of his strong hands. He stopped suddenly a few feet away from the door that led to this "hall" and pushed her up a wall, pressing his body to hers hard so she couldn't escape.

"What are you hiding?" He asked calmer into her face as she looked away, again nervous of his fierce gaze bearing into her.

"Nothing."

"You can't even look me in the eye." He huffed looking away pinching the bridge of his nose, and then back to her. "I'll ask again, what are you hiding?"

"Nothing." Sherry's voice was small and croaky, even she didn't believe her.

"Fine…" Came his short answer as he pushed himself off from her via the wall, standing back to watch her intently as she shuffled from foot to foot rubbing her arms. "The bites?" He questioned inquisitively, the words made her jump very faintly; a normal eye wouldn't have been able to see this, but he was an Ex-merc enhanced with C-Virus.

"Let me see."

"Your demands won't get you anywhere with me Jake."

His hands were on her before she could blink rolling up her sleeves, which he'd noticed had been rolled down, to see tiny pinpricks where the bugs had been - almost healed. 'Only almost?' He thought confused, she normally healed in seconds.

"Are you satisfied?!" She yelled yanking her arm from his grip and tugging her sleeve back down.

"Why aren't you fully healed?" Jake asked as he caught up with her storming off towards the door, opening it and nearly hitting him in the face accidentally.

"How do I know?"

He knew better than continue down this road with her, the argument would only get worse and they would end up going in separate directions through his hot-headedness. He'd tried to control his anger since they met and even more so since their separation following China, but it was hard.

The hall before them was more like the room they had walked into the first encounter with that behemoth, Ustanak. 'More like ruins of a hall. It must have been a grand place at some point, but with all the nightmare raging outside and the fact it had been taken over by Neo-Umbrella has turned it into a crumbling wreck' The ex-Merc mused feeling a cool breeze of the early morning envelop his senses; noticing most of the ceiling had been destroyed and the floor covered in weeds. 'What are these flowers?' Jake thought as he squatted next to a patch of strange plants.

"Don't touch that!" Sherry shouted from across the room, as she watched him go to handle it.

"And why not, Supergirl?"

"It's Sonnentreppe, or The Stairway of the Sun. They're the plant that produced the Progenitor virus."

"Your telling me that the Virus' came from a plant?"

"Yes. Well, sort of." She didn't really know how to explain it to him, but took her best shot.

"If it can only grow in Africa, and under ground... How'd it get here?" Jake asked after her story finished, again looking down to the pink-red flower.

"Great question." She replied with a worried smile, "I guess it's something we have to find out. In the meantime, I need to call Hunnigan and report this."

Jake rubbed his hand over his face, fingers lingering over his scar for a second, turning his gaze to what remained of the ceiling.

Morning was coming birds in the far off distance chirped and sang, while in the background where he stood Sherry had managed to secure a good signal to call her... their boss.

'Me a government agent.' He laughed quietly. Jake never thought he'd see the day he would be doing anything "right" in his life, but as sure as day, here he was saving the world again. 'But this doesn't feel right.' He continued in his mind, 'If this is the Progenitor, why isn't it being protected?' He frowned looking cautiously around the room to witness Sherry doing the same. Nothing looked old except for the weeds and hardly no roof; there was no dust or sign of abandonment. 'In fact...' His mind began as a shot fired from the roof.

"Fucking predictable!" He shouted and dived for cover near a concrete pillar, taking the safety off his gun. "Sherry, you alright?"

"Yes! I'm fine." She called from a few feet away. She'd barely had chance to tell Hunnigan the whole situation when the gun fire started. 'I put the phone down on my boss.' She kicked herself, 'I'll be lucky not to be reprimanded.'

"Sherry! Eyes on the game!" Jake shouted, bringing her back to earth. He was locked in battle with two J'avo in robes. 'The same guys from the Safe house.'

Readying her gun she started to fire, hitting the first right between the eyes and the other in the leg just giving Jake enough time to get himself together as more J'avo raced in from the door they came from.

Constant gunfire deafened the two as piles of newly mutated J'avo surrounded them, and it began to feel like when they were captured for the Underwater Facility.

"Not this time!" Jake roared as the memory disheartened him, "We stick together, okay Supergirl?" Sherry nodded in agreement as they came into contact, back to back. He didn't have to explain why, she was already thinking the same.

UPDATED: 14/01/2015 - Spelling, Grammar & Minor story enhancements.