Chapter Four: Alone in Hell.
[Writer's Note: Ok, little bit of a different approach here, the story is going to jump forward a little bit here, just to advance the story a bit. A little bit of a cop-out I know but it'll speed some things up. Just to clear some things up, Jill and Carlos are still trying to catch up to Mikhail, Nicholai, Murphy and Tyrell, who have decided to go after the downed rescue chopper...Hope you all enjoy!]
They were too late...The four mercenaries stood there looking on at the helicopter they had raced in vain to get to; grimly laying there in flames as its passengers lay trapped inside, having been given no way to escape alive or (unbeknownst to the four) uninfected.
"God-damn!" Tyrell muttered under his breath, "Is there noone left alive in this city?"
"There's Carlos and the woman..." Nicholai replied, his eyes transfixed on the one copter passenger who stood out from the rest, unnoticed by the others: the infected one. His eyes turned to a squint, as if to say "If it weren't for you..."
A sigh then emanated from Murphy.
"Guys...My radio's dead..."
"Mine too..." Tyrell piped up, followed by the same answer from Mikhail and Nicholai.
The team fell silent, now without radio contact with the outside, how were they going to get out of the city alive, or at all?
Mikhail pondered the situation for a moment before snapping everyone out of their trances.
"Murphy, set off an emergency flare, for Carlos to follow..." Mikhail ordered, knowing what his men would say in reply.
"Sir, excuse me, but are you mad? It'll draw attention to us for sure!" Young Murphy replied.
"You don't think I know that? But there's no other way to let Carlos know where we are!"
"But he's the one who ran off! And after the girl!" Tyrell added.
"Shows more courage than us eh?" Mikhail replied, to be met with silence, "That's what I thought..."
Without further question, Murphy set off the flare, which shot off into the sky with a bright red light, ready for all to see.
"Think he'll get here safely?" Tyrell asked aloud.
"He'd better, or else this whole mission would have been for nothing..." Nicholai answered.
Out of the blue, a titanic roar sounded out in the distance, causing each of the mercenaries to quickly turn around on their heels at breakneck pace.
"What the hell was that?" Murphy said as a cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
Looking around, it was apparent that even they were all startled by the blood freezing sound had spooked them all, even the usually cool under pressure Mikhail...
An uncomfortable silence filled the area in which they were stood, broken only by the crackle of the fiery tomb situated behind them.
"Oh no..." Jill forced out breathlessly, stopping dead in her tracks, "It recovered that quick?"
Carlos looked at her with a confused look.
"...What recovered?" He asked, an eyebrow cocked, "Surely you didn't leave anything alive?"
Jill knew there was no time to rest, they needed to get as much distance between them and Nemesis as they could, she began walking, her pace gradually increasing until she was in a full pelt run; Without question Carlos followed closely.
The area's zombie count increased as they went along, yet all were unable to reach out at the two as they ran past, taking the necessary evasive moves when needed.
"So what did you leave alive?" Carlos asked as he closed up to Jill.
"I don't know what it was, but it wouldn't go down without a fight, in many ways it was like what I fought in the Arklay Mountains..."
"Damn, that can't be good...Not from what I've heard..."
Jill looked over at the man by her side, how did he manage to hear about the incident? Surely it had been completely confidential to other people. Then she realised...
"UBCS? What exactly does that stand for Carlos?"
Without hesitation, the mercenary replied with "Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service" and caused the blood in Ms. Valentine to run cold, so much so that she stopped dead in her tracks and start to shake.
Confused with his partners sudden behaviour change, Carlos stopped and approached her, only to have her weapon aimed at him.
"Umbrella? they are the reason for this outbreak!"
"What? Umbrella are trying to SAVE the city! That's why we are here!"
Jill refused to lower her weapon, her rage towards Umbrella driving her, yet her compassion for human life preventing her from pulling the trigger out of anger; In this rare occurrence of hesitation, the Hispanic merc acted quickly and pulled the weapon from her hands.
"I don't know what your problem with Umbrella is Jill, but I'm sure as hell not the one behind it!"
"How do you know my name? I didn't tell you all what it is?"
"Come on, everybody's heard about the Arklay Incident, how you and your team-mates survived an outbreak, which is what my team deals with..." Carlos answered, still holding the weapon away.
"Well you are working for the bastards behind that outbreak!" Jill growled, "Now give me back my gun! We need to keep moving!"
Without a word, he handed the gun back to her, and taking point in leading the way to the signal flare.
The trek towards the rest of the team was in silence, Jill still seething about the revelation Carlos had revealed to her, unsure whether or not he was telling the truth, she chose to say nothing. Carlos, meanwhile, wanted to learn more about his employer's past, however, knowing how Jill would react if he so much as opened his mouth, he also chose to remain silent; instead focussing on his surroundings.
In the background, there was the unmistakeable sound of the undead groaning in a sick harmony, making it all the more harrowing to hear no matter where you were; on top of this was the repulsive smell of death overpowering everything and sickening any survivors to the extreme.
In equal measure to the undead walking in the streets was the amount of victims either not yet risen or just left to litter the ground permanently, respectful steps were taken if they crossed the pair's path, but it remained an ever-persistent chiller of a sight no matter how many were seen on their travel.
Soon enough, after an eerily safe journey...
"There they are!" Carlos laughed as he spotted his team-mates.
"Carlos!" Tyrell laughed, "We didn't think you were gonna show up!"
The jolly atmosphere was interrupted though, as Nicholai cocked his weapon, his steely gaze stabbing at whatever he was aiming for; The others slowly turned and their hearts sank...
For there was Nemesis, who had somehow managed to close the gap between itself and Carlos and Jill, not just quickly, but silently as well.
"What is that thing?..." Mikhail asked in disbelief, before readying his weapon also.
"We need to get out of here!" Jill said, looking at everyone with serious eyes, "This thing won't go down easy!"
"This what you faced earlier Jill?" Carlos asked, getting an unwanted nod back.
"Well, if you managed to take it down once..." Murphy began, readying his own weapon, "That means we should all be able to as a group!"
"No!, We need to run!" Jill argued in futility, realising that it was too late...
Nemesis broke out into it's sprint, instantly closing the gap between it and the group, much to their horror.
"OPEN FIRE!" Mikhail ordered, opening up a barrage of lead into the monster stood before him.
The leather of the monster's seemed to absorb the bullets the team pumped into it, no damage appearing to be dealt at all. This was most certainly the worst thing they could face at this moment in time as ammo was fast becoming a sparse item for everyone.
Nemesis, now in the middle of a circle made by the team, raised it's bulky left arm up, and brought it down with the same surprising speed, taking Murphy completely by surprise, catching him with a devastating blow, sending him flying down to the ground with a sickening thud.
The team knew they couldn't take their eyes off the beast before them, resisting all temptation to check on their fallen comrade, knowing that a split second of distraction could see them meeting the same fate...
"Mikhail, look!" Nicholai called, pointing out a horde of zombies now advancing on them from the distance, obviously drawn by the action unfolding.
"Why did they choose to come now of all times?" Tyrell shouted, leaping out the way of another punch from Nemesis, before firing a couple more futile shots.
"We need to retreat!" Jill said after running to Mikhail's side, taking out an approaching zombie with a skilled head-shot, slowly backing up towards Murphy also.
"For once, retreat seems right..." Sighed the squad leader.
"We need to move now!" Carlos shouted over the gunfire he was dispensing to keep the approaching horde at bay.
Nemesis however, didn't have the same idea, it knew that their resources were running low and that it's best chance of taking them all out was now, so it stepped up it's game, raising the aggression behind each attack and stepping up the speed.
Soon enough, Tyrell was separated from the group, and a swift backhand was delivered, spinning him around so his back was faced towards the monster, who delivered a strong kick between the shoulders, forcing him down to the ground.
Tyrell rolled onto his back, as Nemesis menacingly walked up to him, seemingly ready to put in a finishing blow, seizing back with its less bulky right arm.
"Tyrell!" Nicholai shouted, pulling out his survival knife and sprinting towards his team-mate, then leaping onto the creature's back and jamming the blade into it's torso.
Unsurprisingly, there was next to no reaction from the stab wound, but it didn't stop the Russian from jamming it in again and again to buy some precious seconds for his team-mate.
With each stab to the neck or chest, the monsters blood spurted, covering the mercenary's arm up to the elbow.
One final stab was delivered before he too was thrown to the ground, though he was lucky enough to land on his feet, unlike his less fortunate team-mates.
Nemesis roared and turned towards Jill, seemingly now gunning for her, it began to menacingly walk towards her, shrugging off any gunfire that was laid upon it.
"Jill! Get away from it!" Carlos yelled, laying down a three round burst into it, before realising something was actually happening to it, "What the...?"
A strange purple ooze started to drip from Nemesis' palm, before a bloodied tentacle shot out, writhing about before standing up straight, seemingly under Nemesis' control.
"My god..." Jill gasped, "We need to move!"
Tyrell, now able to stand, rushed over to Murphy and got him up to his own feet, just as he did, Nemesis began a charge towards Jill, tentacle ready to impale.
"Move!" Murphy yelled, suddenly dashing forward in a surge of adrenalin and taking the blow, having his shoulder ran through painfully.
As Murphy yelled out in pain, the moment seemed to pass by in slow motion for Jill and Tyrell, who couldn't believe what they had just witnessed, Tyrell shocked by his team-mate getting run through, and Jill shocked by the Mercenaries' selflessness.
Tyrell acted quickly and pulled his teammate off the the now writhing tentacle, making sure he was upright.
"RETREAT!" Mikhail called, kicking away a zombie that had snuck up on him.
"Move!" Jill yelled, helping Tyrell carry Murphy away, "It doesn't seem to like fire! Find some way to keep it back!"
Mikhail, Nicholai and Carlos, without hesitation, pulled out the Incendiary grenades from their belts and expertly threw them in a manner that boxed Nemesis in and kept it away from them for a few precious seconds, allowing them to start their escape.
The next few minutes were a blur, any back alley they could find was raced down, anything to put distance between them and it.
Things were now starting to look bleak, they were now pretty much a man down, as Murphy was now incapacitated by the blow he had received. The main thought with everyone was escape, followed by medical needs, not just for Murphy, but for everyone there, or else here would be no hope of getting out alive...
[Writer's note: Ok, not my best chapter I'll admit, so if any of you are disappointed then I do apologise! Please Read & Review people! If there's any way to make my chapters any better please do share your opinions!
Cheers!
- ResiAddict]