24. Choice/Decisions, Decisions
Jim stepped out into the parking lot of the Raccoon University and made his way to the police van the rest of the group had arrived in. He looked around it a bit.
"Shit, the cop must have the keys," he said. "Ah well, vans ain't exactly my way to roll anyway."
He searched the parking lot and found a single car sitting alone, then approached it and grabbed the door handle to find it unlocked.
"This really must be Jimbo's lucky day!" he said with a smile.
Jim then sat in the driver's seat and inspected an area under the steering wheel.
"Been a long time since I done this shit, let's hope I don't shock my ass to kingdom come!"
Jim then began to hotwire the car, removing the panel and twisting the wires until sparks flew and the car sputtered to life.
"Shit yeah! That's what I'm talkin' bout! Vegas, here I come!"
Jim took out the ampoule shooter and daylight, laying them on the car seat. He then sat staring at them, then at himself in the mirror, and began fixing his orange, short cut hair.
"Man, I don' even remember th' last time I hotwired a car. Musta been that night I spent in the slammer."
Jim suddenly found himself caught up in a whirlwind of memories. That night he had stolen a car and crashed it, injuring two innocent people and severely injuring another. He was arrested and spent the night in jail, waking up the morning after on the cold concrete bed with the after effects of a night of drinking emit from his mouth. His parents had refused to pay the bond for his behavior, and left him there for an entire day. He remembered wondering what had happened to the people he hurt, as he had only heard that one of them was in the ICU and the others were hurt. He hated the idea of somebody else suffering because of his stupidity, but he didn't want anyone to know that.
After another night Jim began to get nervous, feeling as if he was never going to get out. He was afraid, he wasn't used to being locked up anywhere. But soon enough a guard approached his cell and unlocked it.
"You're free to go kid," the guard said. "You got bail."
Jim was happy at first, but soon he realized his parents were going to give him hell for what he'd done, and he almost considered staying locked up, until he saw his grandfather's wrinkled face, his scruffy white beard, and his bald head staring back at him through the cell bars, not angry, not irritated, not even slightly annoyed, but smiling warmly. Jim burst through the door and hugged his bulbous belly, and his grandfather, Cleveland Chapman, wrapped his big arms around the boy as if he were his son. Jim loved his granddaddy, more so than his own parents, and was overjoyed to find he was the one who set bail for him.
The next few weeks were very difficult for Jim, who was quickly disowned by his own parents. They had tired of his shenanigans, and this incident would be the last straw. So his grandfather took him in and raised him like a son. He taught him morals, respect, and how to take care of oneself. He even helped Jim buy his first car, despite the fact he could barely afford it and would eventually have to trade it back in. For a long time Jim called his grandfather "Pa," feeling closer to him than he ever did to his real father.
But Cleveland was a sick old man, well down in his years, and was soon stricken to his deathbed. Jim tried to keep him optimistic, but Cleveland knew his time was running short and that inevitability would soon overcome him.
"Ah leave you wit' dis las' gift Jimbo," the tired old man said, revealing a bright, shiny coin in his hand. "It's mah lucky coin, ah had it fo years. Ah know that you got yerself a good heart son, an' ah tried mah best ta' teach you what I couldn' to mah own son, but sometimes you still don' know what it is you should do, an' I kin understan' that. Out there is a world where a black man cain't get no breaks for even a second a' the day, an' sometimes you don' think rationally an' you need a snap decision. This here coin has th' curls a fate twirled round it mah boy, don' laugh, it's true! It done bring me the best an' worst luck a' my life, it's guided me into the future until ah knew ah was ready ta' make my own decisions without it. Cuz tha's all life is Jimbo, decisions, the choices we make, an' you ain't well enough in yo years yet ta' know what decisions are right or wrong, but this will help you. Take it, please. It's my las' gift to you. Ah love you Jimbo, you know dat, an' ah'm sure some day you'll be ready to be a man, a true man, but in th' meantime, that coin will guide you through th' eight circles a' hell until you ready to make decisions on yo own. Ah love you Jim."
When Cleveland finally passed away, Jim had decided that it was better not to get too involved with people, deciding that it was best to look out for number one, and leave number two's ass in your dust. But he couldn't shake that look, that feeling of hurt he saw on Yoko's eyes. He didn't want to hurt anybody, he just wanted to live. Who can blame him for that? It's an instinct, he thought, a basic human principle that keeps you alive, and natural selection had picked him out of the bunch. Then he remembered Kevin's anger, his rage, the look of utter betrayal on his face. He remembered Cindy as well, he liked Cindy a lot, and thought she was one of the sweetest chicks he'd ever met; he felt bad that she had to go through all of this.
"Poor Cindy," he said. "I never wanted you to look like no zombie, you too pretty to be all dead an' shit."
He even thought of George, who had helped treat his wound and treated him with respect. And even though he didn't like Alyssa, he didn't like that somebody hated him so much, and a part of him wanted to change that.
"But still," Jim said to himself out loud. "Did I make the right choice, granddaddy? Am I still…a good person?"
He could almost hear his grandfather's beaming voice proudly declare "no."
"I'm not, ready to be a real man yet, am I?" he said, pulling out his coin, then looking over at the daylight sitting ominously on the car seat.
"Well, how about we leave it to fate then?" Jim said. "If it's heads, I go back to those fools and give em' one of the daylights. Just one! Brother's still gotta remember his own welfare! If it's tails, we skee daddle the fuck outta here an' don't look back for noone!"
Jim then climbed out of the car and twirled the coin around in his hand anxiously then positioned it between his thumb and finger, flicking it into the air. It twirled and spiraled around in mid-air as if it were never going to come back down, then landing heavily back into the palm of Jim's hand, which he flipped over and placed on the top of his opposite palm just under his knuckles. He looked down to see what had come up.
Tails.
Kevin, Yoko, David, Cindy, Mark and George entered the courtyard, each of them sitting down in exhaustion, George and Cindy checking each of their wounds. Cindy touched David's arm, to which he grunted loudly in agony.
"Your arm," Cindy said. "Is it broken?"
"What's the difference?" David said. "We're just going to die. Why do you care if it's broken or not?"
"I, well," Cindy said. "Because, that's all I know. I love people, even if they don't like me, and I don't want to see anybody hurt."
"Hmph," David said. "I envy you."
"Here," she said, pulling out her medical kit. "Let's help that arm."
"It might just be, dislocated," he said.
"Oh, okay," Cindy said. "What's that?"
"Hm?"
Cindy then twisted and popped David's arm back into place.
"Son of a-!" he uttered.
"There," she said.
"…..thanks…." David said, almost reluctantly.
Kevin sat against a pillar, staring at Alyssa's picture on her ID tag, and sighed. George approached him, kneeling down and sitting beside him.
"I'm sorry Kevin," he said.
"Don't be," Kevin responded sadly. "She gave up her life to try and save me, but now it's all for nothing."
"That's not true," George said. "She wanted you to survive, yes, but she also wanted you to go on living. Ever since her death, you've become so distant, and I know she wouldn't want that. She would want you to continue being the man she loved, because once that man is gone, only then would her sacrifice be in vein. She wanted to save the Kevin that saved all of us, because you did. I never imagined we would have been able to make it ALL this way without you to lead us. It was your bravery that gave us hope and kept us alive, and she died believing that the Kevin Ryman who saved us would go on living, don't disprove her."
Kevin stared at Alyssa's face in the picture, which he almost thought he saw wink back at him in that flirtatious manner he had so loved, and his signature smirk reemerged.
"You're right George," Kevin said. "Thanks."
"Your welcome," George said, patting his arm and moving to get up.
"Hold on a sec," Kevin said, grabbing George from his shoulder. "What're you gonna do about Cindy man?"
"Oh, I, um," George muttered incoherently.
"I know what's goin' on between you two," Kevin said. "I can see it, but everytime she tries to get close to ya' you back off. I don't know the details, but you really needa decide what you want. I know the way you are around her, I've seen it. Cindy is a great girl, you're lucky to still have her alive; she's right over there, man, you can even see her. I lost Alyssa George, don't even think about letting go of Cindy, not while you still have a choice, while there's still time."
"Time," George uttered to himself.
George stood up and looked over at Cindy, who had just finished placing a sling around David's arm and gone to check on Mark. George walked up to her nervously.
"Cindy?" he said.
"Yes?" she said, turning towards him.
"There's, something I have to tell you." He said.
"What is it, George?" she responded.
"I, that is, I,"
Suddenly the rumbling of a helicopter in the distance could be heard, and everyone got to their feet to look. The chopper then emerged over a building and slowly began to descend towards the courtyard. Everyone waved their arms into the air and called out, their voices drowned out by the copter's propeller. Just as it was over them, a large object leaped into the air and swiped at it, causing it to sway about, and suddenly Thanatos landed directly in front of the survivors and stood straight up, the copter swaying around in mid-air. All six of the survivors stayed back in shock and surprise.
"No way!" David said.
"This is BULLSHIT!" Kevin yelled.
"WHY NOW?!" George yelled.
"We were so close!" Cindy said.
Thanatos's body had seemed to grow even larger than before, and he swung his arm violently at an arc, striking all six of the survivors against the chest and flinging them backward. He then approached them and looked down at each of them, all of them down to a crawling posture, except for Yoko, who stood at the back of the group.
"Yoko! RUN!!!" Mark screamed.
"I can't leave you!" she said.
"You must Yoko, you must!" Mark screamed again.
Thanatos then stepped over the others and raised his arm. Yoko quickly ran forward and dove between his legs, then crawled to the other side. She began to run down the courtyard towards a barricade of police cars when Thanatos leaped into the air and landed directly in front of her. She fell backward, stunned from the surprise impact, and began crawling backward. Thanatos then put one foot down on her to keep her still and let out a roar, to which Yoko screamed.
"NO!!"
Suddenly the sound of a handgun being fired could be heard over the roar of the copter overhead, and a bullet pierced through the air and hit Thanatos in the back of the head, then bounced off like a ping-pong ball. Thanatos turned around to see Jim standing on top of one of the police cars brandishing a handgun, the ampoule shooter secured into his pants at the waist.
"Hey you Rumple Stilt Skin mothah fuckah!" he said. "Jimbo's here to save the day!"
Thanatos removed his foot from Yoko's body and turned towards Jim, letting out a vicious roar and bursting into a sprint. Jim fired off several rounds at him, all of which either missed or bounced off his now rock solid and crisp skin.
"Oh fuck me!"
Jim dove off the police car as Thanatos sent an uppercut swipe, sending the police car high into the air.
"Look out!" The second wingman in the copter screamed as the police car flew only inches from them, the pilot just barely weaving out of its way.
Jim got up and cursed as he ran to the side and fired what remained of his handgun bullets into Thanatos's back until the familiar click of an empty handgun emitted.
"Jim!" George said. "Use the ampoule shooter with the daylight! It's the only way to destroy him!"
"What?!" Jim said as Thanatos turned his attention his way.
"That…creature, is infected with the T-Virus, you have to insert the daylight into the shooter and give him an injection!"
"You expect me to stick that thing with this?!"
"Please Jim!" Cindy yelled. "It's the only way!"
Jim looked at Yoko, whose eyes were stricken with fear, then looked at the shooter and after a few seconds of fidgeting with it, inserted the daylight into a slot until it clicked.
"LOOK OUT!" Kevin yelled.
Jim looked up in time to see Thanatos's large arm swing towards him, smacking him across the head and sending him sliding along the floor, motionless.
"NO!" Mark screamed. "Jim, wake up!"
Thanatos then slowly trudged over to Jim's body and put his large arm around it, then lifted it up into the air, the arm still holding onto the shooter.
"What is he doing?!" David said.
Thanatos then peered at Jim's face curiously and let out a roar when Jim's eyes suddenly opened and he shoved the shooter against Thanatos's exposed heart.
"Surprise, bitch!" he said as he pulled the trigger, instantly injecting the daylight directly into his heart. The daylight traveled through Thanatos's entire body through every bloodstream as Thanatos let go of Jim, dropping him to the ground with a thud. Thanatos then began to utter sounds of anguish and sheer pain, dropping to his knees as his flesh began to swell and sputter a black liquid. He dropped to his hand and knees, the black liquid shooting out of his mouth, nose and seeping through his eye sockets. He stood himself up again in desperation, turning towards the others, but then stopped in his tracks as his heart suddenly burst and he fell to the floor face first with a vicious rumble, leaving cracks in the hard concrete floor of the courtyard and remained motionless as his body began to burn from the inside.
The group helped each other up, all of them looking at Jim in silence.
"You came back," Yoko said to him.
"Uh yeah," he said. "I mean, you didn't think ol' Jimbo was just gonna abandon yo asses did ya? Ya!"
Yoko then rushed forward and grabbed Jim from the waist and hugged him, which made Jim visibly embarrassed.
"Easy Yoko! You're crampin' my style, woman!" he said as she let go. "Hey, where's cyber bitch?"
Kevin frowned. "She…didn't make it."
"Oh…" Jim said. "Sorry, Kev-O."
"Yeah, me too." Kevin responded.
"They're coming back," David said, pointing to the copter, which landed just behind the police car barricade. The survivors advanced as a fireman emerged from the copter, which had a large slash from Thanatos's claws on its side.
"Is everyone alright?" the fireman said. "I saw what happened."
"We're, um, okay," George said.
"Actually we're fucked, but thanks for asking," David said.
"Well we have to see how many of you we can take with us, I just received word that they're going to bomb the entire city."
"What?!" Kevin said.
"They're declared Raccoon City a lost cause and they're going to nuke the whole damn city," the fireman said. "We don't have a lot of time, so we need to take as many as we can and hope the copter can stay together. Everyone else…"
"It's, alright," Kevin said. "Most of us are infected.
The fireman raised his eyebrow. "Oh."
"It looks like only Yoko is gonna be going," Kevin said.
"Wait a sec," Jim said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the vial of daylight. "Oh shit I forgot! It didn't get broken either!"
"You, still have the daylight?" George said.
"Well yeah," Jim said. "I, well, I forgot ta' try and take it when I decided to come back to you fools."
"Great," David said. "Now we get to argue over who's gonna take it and get the hell out of here."
Silence overtook the group.
"Or perhaps, we should look at this more in terms of, what would be best for the future," George said. "This daylight, if analyzed by the proper, trustworthy scientist, could be a salvation for all of mankind. I know they're destroying the city, but this virus, this outbreak, certainly it cannot hope to be so easily contained. Umbrella, whoever they are, must still have the T-Virus, and as long as the darkness of such a plague exists, so must a ray of light pierce the blackest chambers of its heart. And this single vial, the daylight, could be that single light of hope. If Yoko can take it, maybe she can find someone to replicate it and we will then have a cure to prevent another Raccoon City."
Nobody answered for awhile.
"I think George is right," Cindy said. "If we let Yoko take the daylight, we will be saving lots of people."
"Man I went through alotta shit to get that back here only to die!" Jim said. "I dunno what's with me, I'm getting' soft!"
"You're growing a heart and a pair of testicles," Kevin said, putting his hand on Jim's shoulder. "How's it feel to be a man? You get one of your pubes caught in your zipper yet?"
Jim proceeded laugh loudly. "Shut the fuck up fool! You gonna make me piss my pants!"
"It'd be an improvement!" Kevin said.
"Then if nobody objects, we will give Yoko the vial, and hope and pray that she can find somebody to make the best out of it," George said.
Nobody responded, confirming the group's decision. George walked over to Yoko and handed her the vial.
"We place our final hopes in your hands Yoko," George said. "Please do your best not to disappoint us."
"I won't," Yoko said. "Thank you all so very much."
"I can't believe this," the fireman said. "You're all sacrificing yourselves to save people you don't even know?"
"Tha's all we done all night," Mark said.
The group then escorted Yoko to the copter and watched her get inside.
"Yoko," Jim said. "Here."
Jim flipped his lucky coin to Yoko, who caught it clumsily.
"But this is your lucky coin, I can't take this Jim," Yoko said.
"No worries my Asian Princess," he said, waving his hand confidently. "Ol' Jimbo is zombie meat, I don't need it any more!"
"Well, guess this is it," Kevin said.
Yoko's eyes began to well up and she cried.
"Thank you all so very much," she said. "You don't even know who I am, and you've risked your lives to bring me all this way. I used to think that people were evil by nature, that humanity was a failed experiment and we all should be destroyed. But now…" she sobbed. "I wish you could come with us!"
"Hey kid," David said. "Don't shed tears for us, everybody's gotta die, might as well go out in a blaze of glory. Just keep on truckin'."
"Make sure you get that story published for Alyssa Yoko," Kevin said. "It's the least we can do for her."
"I will Kevin," Yoko said. "I promise."
"I'm sorry to interrupt," the fireman said. "But we have to go. There's isn't much time left."
"Okay," Kevin said.
"God bless you Yoko," Cindy said, holding her hands. "Please don't cry anymore."
"Godspeed to you Yoko," George said.
"I'll never forget any of you," Yoko said. "Not ever."
The six survivors stepped away from the copter and watched the propellers slowly spin to life, then lift the machine up into the air above their heads. Yoko waved to them sadly as they returned it with a wave of their own. Yoko kept her eyes on all of them until they were too small to see anymore and again began to cry.
An hour later, the group separated, with George and Cindy walking back to the plaza behind the University to watch the sea, Jim and Kevin lounging about the parking lot, and David and Mark sitting in the courtyard, Mark sitting silently on a bench and David leaning with his back against a pillar.
For awhile neither of them said anything, until Mark spoke up.
"You afraid to die, David?" Mark said.
"No," David responded coldly.
"Ah am," Mark said. "Or at least, ah used ta' be. But now ah've lost everythin', an' mah heart hurts so damn bad, ah feel like death is th' only good thing that kin happen ta' me."
"Sometimes I think that too," David said. "These nightmares, they won't let me sleep. But now that we're gonna die, maybe now, I can finally get some damn shut eye."
Mark laughed, then grunted in agony and held his chest. David turned his head to look.
"Hey, you okay, chief?" David said.
"Ah didn' wanna tell th' others," Mark said. "But, ah think ah've got some, internal bleedin'. Ah didn' wanna worry em'."
"Hmph."
"David," Mark said. "Thank you for helpin' me an' th' others, an' ah'm sorry if ah judged you in th' past. I's just, ah see a lot a' mahself, an' more mah son, in you. But you a good person, even if you don' like ta' show it. You an' me, we've taken lives, yes, we've killed people in cold blood an' had th' nerve ta' keep on livin' anyway. Maybe some a' th' people we killed had jus' as much right ta' live as we do, an' maybe they don'. But our nightmares are more than enough ta' remind us we got ta' change an' be good people. We cain't change the past, we kin only hope ta' find ourselves a better future. Ah only wish, Jerome…"
"I'm sorry Mark," David said. "I, said some things to you before, but they weren't true."
"No they were," Mark said. "You were right. Maybe ah messed up, maybe it is my fault Jerome is dead. But," Mark began to well up. "Oh gawd, Jerome, ah'm so sorry."
"Don't be," David said. "I know that he still loved you. He was your son, he had to. Don't let yourself go out believing otherwise. He wouldn't want that."
Mark began to cry, tears dripping down his face.
"Ah hope so David," he said, sadly. "Ah hope so. Maybe, if God finds me able enough, if how I've helped people since mah days in the war mean anythin', ah'll see my son again in heaven." A smile came across Mark's face, tears still rolling down his cheeks. "Ah kin see him now, so beautiful, all dressed in white, his wings spread out like a mornin' dove an' his halo bright as the stars in th' sky. So beautiful, mah son. Mah son…"
Mark let his head drop sideways against the wall and closed his eyes, then stopped moving. David turned his head to look at him, then stood straight and approached him.
"Mark?" he said. "Mark…Jesus, Mark."
He shook him, then placed his finger against his neck. There was no pulse. David found himself overwhelmed. He had seen many people die before, some of them his own doing, but not once did he feel anything for them until now. David wiped the streaks of tears that were left behind off his cheeks.
"Sorry old timer," he said, beginning to walk away.
Suddenly behind him he heard the sound of Mark shifting his weight and standing up.
"No…"
David turned around to see Mark's corpse rise to its feet and stare at him with its vacant, glazed over eyes.
"Dammit chief," he said. "Not this way. I didn't want to have to do this."
Mark slowly lumbered over to David, a heavy moaning coming from his open mouth and his large tree trunk arms outstretched. David reached into his pocket and raised his Desert Eagle, aiming it between Mark's eyes.
"Good luck getting into those pearly white gates, chief," David said. "Wish I could see ya' there, but God has no place for someone like me."
The gun weighed a thousand pounds in David's hand, which shook as if in fright, and his finger locked itself in place, refusing to pull the trigger. Mark was edging closer, and David let his hand drop down.
"No…" he said. "No more killing. I'm tired of it. I don't care if you are dead. No more…no more."
David tossed the gun to the side and waited for Mark to approach him.
"Go on buddy," David said, pulling his collar aside. "Dig in."
Mark grabbed David from the shoulders and sunk his teeth deep into David's neck.
Kevin sat on the hood of the car Jim had hotwired, loading and toying with his gun as Jim paced around outside.
"Man, I can't believe this shit," Jim complained. "I guess it was the right thing to do an' all, but I don't get nothin' for it! I mean I'm just gonna die, what good is that?!"
"It's called self sacrifice for the good of others," Kevin said sarcastically. "There's this really famous guy who did it once, don't recall the name though, but you probably wouldn't dig him."
"Man if you talkin' about JC I know all that crap, but shit, I woulda liked to go out with some fine honey or somethin'. I'd even settle for a lil' action with that reporter. I know she died on you an' all, but dayum, she was a bitch!"
"Yeah, she was," Kevin said. "That's what I loved about her."
Kevin pulled out Alyssa's ID tag again and stared at the image, wishing it wasn't just a picture.
"I'm sorry dog, I know you had the hots for her," Jim said. "In fact, I kinda wish she'd seen what I done, maybe she wouldn't have hated me as much, wouldn't have thought I was such a damn coward. Not anymore at least."
"It took guts and heart to do what you did Jim," Kevin said. "You made the right choice. And I know Alyssa saw it up there in heaven, so you got nothin' to worry about."
"Hope you're right bro," Jim said. "Wonder where I'll go when I die."
"I imagine limbo, cuz I can't see either place willing to tolerate you!" Kevin said.
"Shut up fool!" Jim said. "An' I don't care WHAT you say, Darth Vader can and WOULD beat the goddamn livin' SHIT outta Dracula!"
"Oh you're gonna start this again? Alright then!" Kevin said, sitting up in the car. "Holy shit."
"What?" Jim said, turning around.
Behind them in a large group was an army of hunters, which approached the university, their mind set on destruction.
"No way!" Jim said, standing outside of the car. "I don' believe this shit! Can't we die in peace?!"
"Never a dull moment around here," Kevin said, standing up on the roof of the car. "Hey Jim, you feel like playin' some monster destruction derby?" He cocked his gun. "Let's finish this…like men."
Jim looked up at Kevin and smiled. "Way ahead of you, brothah."
Jim jumped into the driver's seat and turned the car on as Kevin jumped into the passanger's side and hung out the window brandishing his .45.
"Feel like Starsky and Hutch!" Kevin said.
"Then hold onto yo ass Hutch," Jim said, stepping on the gas. "We gonna turn these mothas into mutant roadkill right the fuck now!"
"ROCK N' ROLL! YEEEEEHAW!" Kevin yelled as Jim spun the car around and drove into the oncoming swarm of hunters.
George and Cindy watched the warm rays of the slow streak over the serene waters of the ocean, the waves calm and peaceful, unaware of the destruction that was soon to be.
"Many think that time is like the waves in the ocean, always alive, always flowing into the future, stopping for nobody, and the best we can do is roll with it and hope for the best," George said. "But I don't believe that anymore. I think that time is simply a way of explaining the changes that have befallen us, just as fate is an easy way to explain completely natural and perhaps even random occurrences. But what really matters is not time, or even what happens to us, but the decisions we make with the power we have to make them with."
"I think you're right George," Cindy said.
"And I've finally made a decision," George said.
"About what?"
"To tell you the truth."
George grabbed Cindy's hands and placed them in his own.
"I love you Cindy. I didn't want to believe it, but I have loved you since the day we met. I didn't even realize it at first, because I've never felt that way for anybody before, not even Collette, and I didn't understand it. I've wanted to tell you for so long, but I was frightened that it was wrong, that it was some fantasy I wanted to see fulfilled, that what I felt was more a figment of my mind than a true state of my heart. But now I've found the courage to tell you. I love you Cindy Lennox."
Tears rolled down Cindy's eyes and her head dropped down, overwhelmed with emotion. She then stepped forward and placed her head against George's chest, which was warm and comforting. George then touched Cindy's face, lifting it up to meet his eyes with hers, and kissed her. Both of them embraced, their hearts beating against their chest almost in unison, the warmth of their breath brushing against each other's faces. They pulled apart and embraced again, tears running down both their eyes. They looked at each other again, George wiping the tears from Cindy's face and she doing the same for him.
"This is the happiest moment of my life," Cindy said.
"Me too," George responded. "If this is to be our final moment, I could not choose any other that would surpass it, or any other person to share it with."
Cindy put her hand on George's heart, which was beating fiercly.
"I'm feeling…strange." George said, taking ahold of her hand.
"Me too," Cindy said.
A slight rumbling that began to grow in intensity suddenly became apparent. They both looked up at the sky as large comets of fire fell from the heavens. George held Cindy in his arms as they both watched the balls of flame drop down to the earth.
"It's beautiful," Cindy said.
"Yes…"
All through the city the falling comets of hellfire burst and burned, sending immense tidal waves of death through the streets of Raccoon City. What was once broken, destroyed, and conquered by the darkness of the T-Virus was now decimated in a shower of destruction. The waves of flame shot through the city, incinerating every building, body, and any thing in its path. Cars were flung into the air like rocks and bodies spun about like rag dolls. One by one every square inch of the great city was engulfed in flame until there was nothing left but dust and flame. What was once seen as the single most peaceful and average city in the country was now a pile of rubble, the road sign declaring its population the only persisting trace, the only memory of its existence.
The copter that Yoko sat in was far from the city, but the brightness of the bombs was so bright it burned Yoko's eyes, even from that distance. She covered them until the explosion subdued enough for her vision to adjust, but soon found herself looking forward towards the direction the copter was facing, leaving Raccoon City behind and heading to the future.
"I can't believe it's all gone," the fireman said. "So many lives lost in one night, an entire city obliterated in a matter of seconds."
"It's a damn tragedy is what it is," the pilot said. "But at least we're still alive."
"Yes," Yoko said. "We're still alive."
Yoko thought about Jim, holding his coin in her hand, and about Alyssa, who had shown her such kindness and care. Kevin's humor, Mark's bravery and strength, George's calmness, Cindy's sweetness, David's darkness and his hidden goodness. They had given their lives and placed in her hands the hope of a better tomorrow, but she didn't feel burdened. She felt proud, but sad also, and wished she could give her own life to spare each of theirs. They didn't even know her, she didn't even know herself; but she decided from then on, that she would find out who she was, and make sure to live her life to the fullest, whatever it turned out to be. She would set out to remember her past and to deal with it, whatever it was, and to do everything they had asked of her.
"I might not remember who I am," Yoko said out loud to herself. "But I will never forget all of you."
She looked out of the copter and watched the valley before her, new and mysterious though it was, ready to face whatever it would bring her, ready to face herself.