Resident Evil : Burn It Down

Part Four

Jill and Leon stand gawking at the television screen. They have just witnessed the brutal of a man they do not know and never will. A rumble of thunder emanates from the sky above. All of a sudden, a burst of rain hits and the two get soaked with every breathing second. Leon looks around for shelter but Jill stands there almost as if she's in a trance.

"We need to get out of this rain," he says. He spots a nearby shop and tugs at Jill's arm. "Let's go" he runs for the shop and the sliding doors open. He glances over his shoulder and see's Jill trailing behind. She looks more dead than alive. When they get in they both shiver in the change in temperature. They walk around in Marks & Spencer's pretending to look at various foods, but really, they can't get the sight of that man's brutal death out of their minds. Once they get to the meat counter, Leon feels his stomach churn. Too soon. They walk past the customer service counter where a young woman stands. She begins speaking something into the tannoy that echoes her voice throughout the entire store. Jill and Leon take no notice of what she's saying. Jill remains silent and Leon has no idea what to say to her. He didn't quite understand the statement himself. All they knew was someone Jill cared about was going to get hurt. But who? "We should contact HQ," he says. "Tell them about what happened." Leon gets out his phone and calls the BSAA HQ. But the ringing stops and the call is cut off. "What is it with the reception in this city?" he narrows his eyes at the phone's screen. He see's that he as perfect reception. "This makes no sense..." Leon's hand touches his chin and he begins to ponder why the phone's are being blocked.

"Maybe it's being done on purpose," Jill pipes up "maybe it's being done by them," Leon glances around and see's other people on the phone, absolutely fine.

"But why are our phones the only one's being affected?"

"Maybe it's not our phones. Here, I'll ring 911-"

"it's 999 here," Leon winks. Jill rolls her eyes.

"Of course," she presses the button three times and it begins to ring. A woman picks up and says "999 what is your emergency?" Jill quickly hangs up to avoid blocking the line. "See. Everything else is fine. It's the BSAA's connections. They aren't working,"

"So something is jamming communication between us and the BSAA?" the pair begin walking again.

"Look's that way," Jill shrugs. "That's what she wants. She wants us segregated from everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if she's going to pull another stunt and try to split us up." Leon looks at her.

"That sounds like a plan," he nods. "We just need to sit tight until something else-" a scream from inside the shop stops Leon from finishing. The two begin to sprint in the direction of the sound. The customers run in the opposite direction, throwing their baskets and bags filled with shopping anywhere and everywhere. Jill and Leon get to the clothing section where blood splatters are on the floor. Leon and Jill equip themselves with handguns.

"I'll go up this one, you go down the far end." Jill instructs him. Jill paces down an aisle slowly and steadily, keeping two hands on the gun. Leon goes left to the next aisle, so they have chance of cutting whatever is it, off. Jill notices a cream sweater on the rack with a blood handprint on it. The blood splatters get larger with every step and soon she's standing over a man's body. His body. The man that psycho killed on the tv, lying there in a puddle of blood. Jill looks up further down the aisle and see's a dark figure. "Stop!" the figure runs away and Jill jumps over the body and begins pursuing them. She gets to the end of the aisle and looks left and right. She catches sight of him on the left and shouts "Leon! NOW!" Leon tackles the figure with a punishing spear. The two are sent flying to the floor. Leon's hands grip the figures shoulders. Jill gets to them and looks. The figure is a teenager in a black hoody and jeans. He stares at them, trembling at the sight of their guns.

"I-I didn't steal it!" he stutters. Jill throws her head back and sighs. Leon gets off the teen and rubs his forehead. "W-why do you have guns?"

"That's for us to know," Jill replies. "And let's hope you won't find out. Ok?" the teen gets to his feet to quickly and nearly falls over. "Did you see anything?"

"I saw that...that man! He's dead!" his shaking finger pointing to the aisle Jill ha chased him from. "I thought you were gonna arrest me or something!"

"We could. Did you steal anything?" Leon raises his eyebrows at the boy.

"No! No I did not, sir!"

"Are you positive about that? You mentioned something about stealing," the teen bits his lower lip. "Hand it over kid and we'll let you go. Just take this as a warning," Leon holds his hand out and the teen goes into his pocket and reveals a packet of cigarettes.

"I...I'm sorry!" he cries before running of. "Thank you!" he calls back behind him. Jill and Leon return to the aisle with the slaughtered man.

"How did it get here so fast?" Jill wonders. "Why here?"

"Because we're here," Leon concludes. "She definitely has it in for us. Big time." Leon squats beside the body and inspects the stabbing wounds. "Whoever she is, she sure knows her handy work. These cuts are executed extremely well. The only person I've ever known to be this good with a knife was-"

"Jack Crauser," Jill finished off. Just as they inspect the body further the lights suddenly go black. Leon adjusts the light at the bottom of his pistol and turns it on. "Guess all the people are out then,"

"Jack Crauser..." Leon rubs his chin. "He was an expert with a knife. With any blade." he drifts off.

"Jill Valentine and her trusty little sidekick are in the house!" comes from the speakers. She's using the tannoy. "I see you found mmm or whatever his name is! He's looking a bit erm...pale? Yes! Pale!" Jill and Leon look at each other and they hastily make their way to the customer service counter,where they noticed the tannoy before. "Who's Jack Crauser? Oh! I know! He's the guy erm...hmm..." the tannoy cuts off. Leon and Jill get to the corner nearby the customer service desk. There's no one there. When they look over the counter they see nothing but the tannoy wire hanging about. But it's moving slightly side to side. She was here. Jill looks in every direction eager to hunt her prey. But it's pitch black. From out of nowhere, her phone vibrates in her pocket, she frowns. She fetches it out and looks at the message. It contains only a single word, but it makes Jill's jaw drop and scream for Leon to run.

The message says "BURN!" and that's when the bomb went off.

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