Chapter 10: Wasting The Dawn

"Urgh..." Sherry moaned as her body twitched without her permission.

"Sherry?"

"J... Jake?"

"Sherry!" He whisper-screamed as he hunched over her bed a little, he was more than relieved now she was properly conscious.

"What... What happened?" She asked groggily.

"You were shot." He told her simply, he would go into detail when she'd recovered more. "You had me worried, Supergirl."

She giggled much to her discomfort.

"So that's why I hurt like hell, huh?"

"Talk to me..." Sherry said hazily a few hours later; her eyes were heavy as the latest dose of morphine hit her.

"About what, Supergirl?"

"Anything." She smiled.

How could he refuse?

Jake fulfilled her wishes by talking about his mother, in all honesty she had been on his mind a lot since the incident.

"She always told me stories about Eng-" He cut off after half an hour of solid reminiscing, to find Sherry's eyes closed and breathing heavy.

"G'night Sherry." He smiled leaning over to kiss her forehead.

"Thank you." She beamed, opening her eyes gradually making him blush for the first time ever.

"I thought you were..." Again he was cut short as her hands reached for his face little by little as to not pull out the cannula buried deep into her hand.

She continued to put her hands on his cheeks, her thumb grazing his deep scar, her face aglow with a smile that warmed his very soul.

Jake closed his eyes as she cradled his face, feeling the warmth of her skin on his.

Steadily she lifted herself from the bed, getting closer to Jake. He wanted to tell her to take it easy, to lay back down and rest but as soon as her lips touched his all thoughts were erased.

"Come on Chris!" Jill shouted from a few feet ahead.

"I'm coming already." He replied reloading his semi-automatic.

They had driven to the gate of the power grid and just jumped over the fence to be greeted by an entourage of turbaned J'avo.

Chris lagged because he was making sure the desert behind him was empty, Jill unknowing carried on without him

"Do you think Sherry will be okay?" Jill asked casually when another zombie sprung around a corner trying to catch them off guard.

"She's strong." Chris replied after meleeing the man in the head, "She has some of the best BSAA doctor's looking after her..." He frowned. 'As long as we get them power.'

The power station they were visiting was vast and extensive, they had been given directions to the main power source but when they arrived they found no signs of damage, and at closer inspection this was not the correct circuit.

"Where the hell is it?" Chris murmured, his eyes searching the surrounding area. Everything was a maze and it had taken them long enough to find the main source.

"They gave us the right information didn't they?" Jill referenced to the hospital.

They had plans of all the major power supplies around the district, as well as other forms of amenities like water.

"This has to the correct one." He looked to the map given, and back to the landscape, it was exactly the same as the sight before them. "It's definitely the right one, Jill."

"Then someone's put the charge on a different circuit."

"It has to be... but." He stopped and looked around "So many circuits to check."

"If it was simple, it would be too easy." She laughed.

"Leon..." A voice called him from his dreams.

"...Leon."

"Go away..." He whispered groaning.

"Get up!" They shouted pushing his hip forcefully.

"Wha-t?" His eyes snapped open to see the redhead standing above him with a anxious smile and hands on her waist.

"Sherry's awake."

When Claire and Leon arrived at the room Jake was pacing the room with a pinkish hue to his face while Sherry sat up with a Doctor talking to her quietly.

"Hey kid!" Leon greeted, as the Doctor left.

"Really Leon?" Sherry laughed.

"You'll always be a kid to me Sherry."

"You have a thing for little kids then, Hero?" Jake asked sarcastically, trying to mask his blush. Leon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"What did the Doctor say?" Claire asked eagerly as she took the seat next to Sherry's bed.

"I'm healing slowly... It appears the bullet contained a substance that was similar to the anti-G. It stopped my regenerative strength to an incredible minimum so that any wounds would be fatal, and cause death..." She stopped to take a few long deep breaths, "But, the essence of this new anti-G was a proto-type and wasn't strong enough to stop my healing completely. At least that's what the Doctor's believe." She wheezed. "My virus regenerated itself when my heart gave up." Sherry looked to Jake, remembering the words he'd spoken when she'd been...unavailable.

He was the one to bring her back, not the G-Virus.

"And the C-virus?" Leon asked.

"The C came from these tiny creatures that attacked me. Apparently, they were also a proto-type and not strong enough to bring me down... The G fought it off, it's quite resistant... I'm not totally immune to everything though."

"But if it were a normal person, they would have been infected." Jake chipped in with a solemn expression.

"Great." Leon sighed, rubbing his hand over his stubbly chin. "A new way to spread the evil." ...'But at least Sherry will be fine in no time.' He thought.

"Claire... where's Chris?" Sherry asked curiously. "I thought I heard him before."

"He's gone to put the power back on." She replied.

"He'll be fine." Sherry reassured seeing the worried expression her friend wore.

"Yeah... the guys a real... brute." Jake said dryly.

"Jake!" Sherry scolded with a frown.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized with his hands in the air, a smug grin coming to his face.

Leon sighed shaking his head. Jake and Claire had only got back on talking terms a few days ago, and he was already rubbing her up the wrong way.

"So when they letting you out?" Leon inquired, trying to change the subject fast.

"We're wasting the dawn here!" Chris shouted at Jill, who was taking the piss fixing a few wires.

"You! Will be the first one to complain if I do a bad job! Or do it wrong!" She shouted back just as heated. "So let me do my job Chris!"

God was he driving her mad right now! He hadn't a clue about electronics, well at least not in depth like she did and here he was trying to rush her?

"Okay... Okay, sorry Jill. I'm just worried about the people at the hospital."

"I am too, just... keep calm and keep watch." She replied in a quieter calmer tone as she soldered a large wire back onto the motherboard. "It shouldn't be too long now."

"Good because it looks like a twisters coming this way."

"Shit." He wasn't wrong either, far on the horizon there was a large twirling cloud of sand.

"Jill, you need to hurry it up..." He said quietly as he kept an eye on the nearing sandstorm.

"Just 3 more wires Chris."

Chris grimaced, he was sure they didn't have time to dilly-dally but was surprised when his female comrade stood up a few seconds later wiping her brow.

"Done." She smiled, pulling a large lever on the circuit breaker. Loud buzzing filled the air confirming the electric was back on until a little spark erupted from beneath her hand making her scream.

"Shit!" She cursed loudly. "I think a fuse has gone."

"You're kidding right?" Chris asked miserably, "That twister won't stop for you to change a fuse."

"Think I don't know that? It shouldn't take too long."

"You've said that before."

"Trust me, Captain."

Chris knew he'd upset her now, she hardly ever called him Captain and when she did it was when he'd pissed her off.

This time he left her to change the fuse without badgering, he would be better off letting her calm down.

He continued to survey the area as she asked before, nothing was out the norm, except for the whirlwind... but there was something strange about it, he just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Times run out Jill."

She turned and gasped as the twister took down the fence and made way to them.

Chris grabbed Jill by the arm and pulled her out of the twisters way, diving behind a huge metal crate.

All went deathly silent - no wind - no sand thrashing around.

"It dispersed?" She asked Chris with a frown, he shrugged and stood up.

"Jill..." He began with a enquiring tone, making her stand too.

What was left in the tornado's wake almost made her gag.

A J'avo was half melted from the waist down, a horrid brown pool surrounded it. It's arms were poised like it was trying to climb out of its own bodily fluids, eyes and mouth gaping open. It was truly terrifying, and she had seen a lot over the years.

"What happened to it?" She asked almost tenderly.

"Hell if I know." Chris responded quietly. "We need to fix the fuse and get out of here, before whatever happened to him happens to us."

She nodded in agreement and started towards the circuit breaker noticing Chris hadn't followed but was stood in awe at the melted J'avo. Jill knew he was cautious about it, she would be lying if she wasn't too, but she couldn't help but wonder... Was it dead?

"Alright Redfield, we can go."

It had been an hour and a half since she'd been changing the fuses because, as one was replaced another blew out, and Chris hadn't said one word the whole time. He'd just been staring at the J'avo. Jill wasn't sure what he was thinking but she was positive he would be glad to leave.

"Chris?" She gingerly touched his arm after having no response, "I said we can go."

"Oh, sorry Jill." He said as he stood, changing his gun to a more powerful one.

The two BSAA members walked warily back to their vehicle not far from the power station, stumbling on another melted J'avo next to the dune buggy.

Chris stopped dead in his tracks and held Jill back before she took another step, the J'avo had started to move.

Both raised their guns at the same time, training their weapons on the things head, watching fleshy tentacle vines materialize from the surrounding pool of the dead J'avo.

It's eyes twitched and then blinked, the arms began to shudder as more tentacles shot into the air. The vines set into motion; twirling around the J'avo, getting faster and faster until sand was thrown into the air getting whipped into the momentum causing a small tornado to form.

UPDATE: 14/01/2015 - Spelling & Grammar.

- Okay ;) So I know Sherry can heal, but that doesn't mean she can't be effected by Virus' even if it's only for a little while; whilst her body and the G regenerates and fights it off, right? ;) It was never said anywhere so I'm taking that into account.

-ALSO! Capcom, if you're reading this for some reason and want to steal my Sand J'avo idea let me know! The copyright's mine ;P