Chapter Twelve.
After the jet touched down in Northern Nevada, Wesker and Krauser had to leave it immediately for a helicopter as the tarmac was in the process of being overrun. The only think keeping the pilot of the chopper from leaving seemed to be the promise of a swift shot from Krauser's bow that would place an incendiary-tipped arrow into the fuel tank.
Wesker drew a pistol and began shooting the zombies in between him and the chopper. Krauser meanwhile kept his arrow ready to fly should the pilot turn chicken. They boarded and the chopper took off, headed south towards Las Vegas.
"This looks bad," Krauser said, looking out the chopper window at the ground bellow. The airport was protected well enough to keep the people inside from being eaten, but like everyone else, their supplies were low.
"It's always darkest before the dawn, and all that nonsense," Wesker said. "Victoria and the others have reached the western states intact. If all goes well, they'll be in Nevada in another week. The psyionic blips we've been reading will lead them to her trail, and then they'll move in. Once we have her at the Nevada facility, we'll unlock her secrets and begin rebuilding."
"And we flew out here because…?" Krauser said.
"Insurance. If they fail to gain Alice's cooperation voluntarily, you and I will force the issue personally."
"So instead of just Alice, we'll have the vampire to contend with, not to mention Leon and Jill Valentine. Plus there's that Integra woman."
"Don't forget Ashley Graham," Wesker said.
Krauser laughed and sneered. "Make all the jokes you want, Wesker, I…"
"No joke," Wesker said. "Why do you think I arranged it so four humans would be accompanying the vampire?"
"In case she'd need something to eat?" Krauser said.
"Partly, but considering their previous relationships, I doubt Victoria will make a meal of any of them. I had them go along to be a liability for Victoria in case she went rogue on us in some fashion. That plus the bomb we planted in the vehicle, The Bus they're calling it, virtually assures our victory should any mutiny occur."
Krauser didn't seem convinced. He sat with his arms crossed as the helicopter flew through the air over the swarm of undead and out across the desert.
***
Seras woke to a knock on the lid of her coffin. She opened it and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Are we there yet?" she asked.
Integra stood by the coffin with her assault rifle slung over her shoulder. "Yes," Integra said. "We've been watching the parking lot for a while. There's a few zombies wandering around but not much else that we've seen."
Seras got up and attached her machete sheath to her belt and picked up her own rifle, checking it to make sure it was loaded. "You don't have to go, you know," Seras said. "I'm not going to get infected by the virus or torn to pieces."
"We're done discussing this," Integra said, moving to the side hatch on The Bus.
"Be careful," Jill said as The Bus slowed to a halt. "And don't forget the sacks."
Seras grabbed two large burlap sacks as Integra opened the hatch. With the rifle held up to her shoulder, Integra scanned both sides of The Bus before stepping out into the cracked pavement of the Wal-Mart's parking lot.
Leon had gotten them quite close to the door and there were only two zombies between them and the front door. Integra shot them both while Seras turned around and began firing into the parking lot. Each crack of her gun was accompanied by a soft flop as an approaching zombie went down.
Once she had killed the bulk of the zombies in the parking lot Seras turned and backed up Integra. "Let me walk point," Seras said.
"No," Integra said, stepping over the broken glass that marked the former automatic door. Inside the Wal-Mart it was dark, although Seras could see fine. Integra moved slowly, letting her eyes adjust.
"At least it's small," Seras said, looking at the ruined store. To her left were the cash registers while to her right was a faded Dunkin' Donuts sign hanging lopsided.
It looked like a hurricane had come through the place and blown everything down without damaging the building itself. Towards the back of the store the shelves had all been toppled like dominoes while the center was filled with downed clothing racks and displays.
"I see two down at the end of the cash registers," Seras said.
"I've got them," Integra said.
Integra fired three times, one of her shots striking a zombie in the throat instead of the head. With both dead, Seras listened to see if the gunshots would attract the attention of any zombies remaining in the store. With all the garbage strewn about, anything moving was bound to be hear by her.
Hearing nothing, Seras followed Integra as she moved in a methodical pattern around the store. It was slow going for Integra, who couldn't see as well, but Seras didn't think they would find much of anything regardless of how fast they went. She heard the crunch of glass near the front door and turned to down a zombie that had made it past The Bus. Next time, Seras thought, it might do to have Jill sit on top and shoot stragglers that came up on their backside.
"I think this place has been picked clean," Seras said as they stood in what remained of the electronics section. "Even the clothing section is bare."
"Too bad. A change of clean clothes would be good," Integra said. "Let's check the donut store and get out of here before we attract a swarm and have to waste more bullets."
"If it were just me here, I could rely on my machete and we wouldn't need to waste bullets," Seras said.
Integra stopped beneath the Dunkin' Donuts sign a one end of the store and pointed her rifle over the counter. Sure there were no lurking torsos or other horrors, she turned to Seras. "I haven't been three meters from that infernal machine in weeks, Seras. I'm willing to spend some ammunition and risk a little life and limb to get away from it for a short while. I don't know how those three can stand it."
Integra climbed up onto the counter, keeping the rifle at the ready. She dropped down on the floor in back and began kicking things around. Seras became nervous when she disappeared around the back. Seras hadn't heard any zombies walking but that didn't mean there wasn't one playing opossum.
There was a crashing sound followed by gunfire. Seras leapt over the counter and went running around to the back where Integra had fallen back against the wall. On the floor was the leathery body of a zombie, shoeless and dressed in rags. "Are you alright?" Seras asked, helping Integra to her feet.
"Yes," Integra said. "It was just standing there, not moving. When I came around the corner, it lunged. I've never seen an intact zombie stand and play opossum. I guess the brain damage make their behavior erratic. You can let go of me now."
Seras had been squeezing the sleeve on Integra's coat. She let go abruptly. "Damnit," Seras said.
"I'm fine, Seras," Integra said. "I fell because I tripped over a cardboard box. It never got close."
"I don't think you should be accompanying me on these little expeditions," Seras said. "It's only a matter of time before you're bitten."
"I'll take that into consideration," Integra said.
Seras thought she had plenty of time already to consider it and unless she was harboring some hidden death-wish , should've opted to stay on The Bus. There was no convincing Integra of this, she knew, and briefly thought that if Integra were to suddenly suffer a broken leg, she might no longer have a choice.
Seras nixed the idea and instead fixed Integra with a hard look. "One more close call and I'm going to insist," she said.
"We'll see how close it is," Integra said. "There's nothing back here. Let's go."
They went back to The Bus and Seras used her machete on three zombies that had congregated around it. Jill opened the side hatch for them after Seras knocked and they both filed in, saying nothing.
"No luck?" Jill said.
"Trashed and picked clean," Seras said.
Ashley and Leon had moved to the back and were sitting around the small table they used for meals. Integra joined them along with Jill, while Seras performed a weapons check on their rifles.
"We have to pick out spots better," Leon said. "We're just asking for trouble going into places like this at random."
Seras listened to them discuss scavenging strategies while checked and rechecked the weapons. One train of thought was going through her mind despite her efforts to stop it. Had the zombie in the donut shop bitten Integra, what then? Would she be the one to shoot Integra, or would Integra shoot herself?
Taking a deep breath to steady her voice, she leaned both rifles against the wall. "I'm going to go check the cars in the parking lot," she said quickly. The four stopped talking and looked at her as she climbed up to the ceiling hatch. It would save one of them closing the side one behind her.
There were only two cars in the lot, both with broken windows and missing tires.
To be continued…