- Chris… You remember? – I asked, shock visible in my eyes. Chris looked at me with the same look he used to and nodded. I let out a relieved sigh as I jumped into Chris' arms and hugged him tightly. – I was so worried. – I whispered in his ear as he hugged me back.
Piers walked closer to us as I let go of Chris. Other BSAA soldiers with flamethrowers were burning the cocoons so that they wouldn't hatch.
- Piers. – Chris spoke up. – What happened to Ada Wong?
- Captain?
- Where is she? – Chris pressed on.
- She's leading Neo-Umbrella. All these terrorists are…
- Is she in this city or not?! – Chris yelled angrily. I was staring at him with shock. I have never seen him so angry before.
- She's been sighted several times since the attacks began. – Piers answered. – Yeah, she's here.
- Tell the men we're moving out. – Chris said as he stood up quickly and walked away. I was still kneeling in the same position, bewildered.
- Come on, let's take you to the medics. – Piers said as he extended his hand to me. With everything that has happened I even forgot about my back pain. I took Piers' hand and stood up. We walked to the medic and he looked at my back.
- Took a pretty good hit, kid. – The medic said. – Nothing too serious. The spine isn't hurt. But you should take it easy as much as you can and try not to get hit in the back or your spine might get damaged. – With that, the medic went to look at other injured soldiers.
- I thought I told you we're moving out! – Chris' voice appeared beside me. I turned around and saw him standing next to me, furious.
- Minnie had to see a medic, because… - Piers started, but Chris cut him off.
- She looks fine to me. If she can't keep up with the rest of the team she should just go home. There's no place for kids here.
- But, Captain... – Piers started angrily, but this time I cut him off.
- I'm sorry, Chris. This won't happen again. – Chris just nodded and walked away.
- Why did you do that? – Piers asked me when Chris walked away.
- It's no time to argue right now. – I said. – His need for revenge took over. Come on, let's go.
- I don't care who he is, but he will not talk to you like that again. – Piers muttered, but I heard him.
Chris jumped down to where the cocoons were being burnt and Piers and I followed him. We reached three soldiers that have been waiting for us. The moment we approached them a huge snake head appeared from under a pile of rubble and snatched one of the soldiers. We quickly started shooting the monster but it became invisible and slithered away.
- Alpha to HQ! – Chris reported. – We've engaged a hostile! Piers! Marco! Everyone on me! We're going after that thing!
- You heard the man, people! – Marco said. – Let's move!
And so we did. We ran in the direction that the snake had gone to. Once again we were at the streets between the houses. Judging by the amount of blood on the ground, it was obvious that the poor soldier will soon die of blood loss if the creature hadn't killed him yet. The trail led to some sort of an apartment building.
- OK, let's move in, but be careful. – Chris said.
We followed the trail and tried to reach the building. We've encountered a few J'avos, but other than that everything went fine. Since there was no way to reach the building by the streets, we once again had to go over other buildings and roofs. When we got out of one of the buildings we were greeted by an explosion below us. I looked down to see Jake and Sherry. It appeared as if we were on the second floor of a certain building, the center if it was destroyed and on the first floor were Jake and Sherry.
- They're alive! – Piers said as he spotted them. – They went missing 6 months ago in Edonia. – He explained to Chris.
Before Piers could say anything more, a strange sound reached my ears. A helicopter was flying our way. I started looking around, trying to spot the helicopter and a few moments later it appeared from behind a nearby building. I looked closer and saw a J'avo flying it.
- Shit. – I muttered, as I aimed my gun at it. But the helicopter didn't shoot us. As a matter of fact, the J'avo inside turned the aircraft around and found itself another target. Jake and Sherry. I looked down to see swarms of J'avos attacking the two.
- Neo-Umbrella's after them! – Piers said looking at Chris, waiting for him to react. I did as well. – Captain! – Chris was hesitating and I knew that he was trying to answer the question whose life is more important. Because if we stayed to help Jake and Sherry, there was a huge possibility that the BSAA operative that we're after might not make it alive.
- Spread out! – Chris finally yelled out his orders. – Take every one of those damned things down.
I did as I was told, took a firing position and started shooting.
- Captain, it's Marco. That's an armored chopper they've brought in.
- That rules out the conventional arms. – I heard Piers' voice next to me.
- We could really use a grenade launcher or something of the sort. – I said taking down a J'avo that was ready to stab Sherry in the back.
- Forget the chopper for now. – Chris ordered. – Engage the J'avo.
- Captain, Keaton here. I can't reach those two on the radio. They're not responding. What should we do?
- We wipe out the hostiles. After that, they're on their own.
- Fair enough. – I muttered and continued protecting Jake and Sherry from afar.
I was aiming at a certain J'avo when a shadow appeared over me. I looked behind me and saw a J'avo aiming its gun at me. This one was different from others because instead of normal legs, it had some sort of grasshopper legs. *I'm screwed.* was the only thought that ran through my head. There was a shot and the J'avo in front of me burned up. I looked around and saw Chris aiming his gun in my direction. I raised my hand, thanking him.
- I've never seen a mutation like that before. – He said over the earpiece. – Reid, uplink a reading to HQ.
- Already on it, sir.
I changed my position so that no J'avo could sneak on me from behind and continued covering Jake and Sherry, while occasionally shooting any J'avo that would appear next to me or other soldiers.
When the last J'avo around Jake and Sherry was killed, I thought it was over, but the shooting didn't stop. I looked around and saw two of those grasshopper-legged creatures on the helicopter. Before I could react, Piers took them both out with his sniper rifle.
- That's the last one. – Chris said and I made my way to meet him and the rest of the team.
- The chopper's pulling back! – Piers said and well enough, the chopper disappeared behind the buildings.
- That'd be too easy. – I said suspiciously.
- C'mon, keep moving. – Chris ordered.
- Captain, we should escort those two outta here. – Piers said. – They'll never survive on their own.
- We're moving out. – Chris said sternly. – Let's go!
- But, Chris… - I tried to make him at least consider Piers' thought, but I was cut off by Chris towering over me, a stern look on his face.
- I said we're moving out. – And with that Chris turned around and walked away.
I didn't like the way he acted but he was the leader of this team and since I was so eager to go on this mission as well, I knew that I had to obey his orders.
We made our way to the stairs and went up on the roof of the building. Once there, the sound of the helicopter was heard again.
- The chopper's back to finish the job! – Piers yelled out to everyone.
- HQ, come in! – A soldier said. – This is Alpha! The chopper is targeting us, now!
- Everyone! – Chris yelled out his orders. – Bring that chopper down and bring it down hard!
We found the best cover we could and started shooting at the chopper. As Piers had mentioned earlier, our bullets did close to no damage to it.
- We need bigger weapons if we ever want to bring that chopper down! – I yelled as the helicopter started shooting at us.
- Get out of the way and cover me! – I heard Chris's voice. I looked at him only to see him holding a grenade launcher. I did as I was told and started shooting at the J'avos that were appearing on the roof.
A few accurate shots from Chris and the chopper went down. I looked down to where the helicopter had exploded and saw Chris looking at something intensely on the other side. I followed his gaze and saw Jake and Sherry starring back at us. The two started moving, obviously having some sort of job to do when Piers cut in.
- Captain, we can't let them go!
- Our mission is to terminate the B.O.W.s. – Chris answered.
- But Neo-Umbrella is after them. – Piers pressed on. – Shouldn't we…
- Piers. – I whispered taking a grip on his arm, trying to calm him down, because I saw that Chris was becoming furious again.
- I said, our mission is to terminate the B.O.W.s. – Chris said with the same deadly tone. It was obvious that Piers didn't agree with him, and neither did I, but a fight wasn't something any of us needed right now. – I'm going after that B.O.W. Ada's not getting away with this.
- Chris, I understand you want to kill her and have your revenge, but you need to think things through. – I said cautiously, following him with Piers by my side. My words fell on deaf ears as we entered the building that the snake was supposed to be in.
- Alpha Team to HQ. – Piers reported. – We're in pursuit of the target.
As we moved forward, we saw a dead BSAA soldier lying on the floor. *Obviously we're on the right track. Even though we're too late.* I thought as we continued. The building moved a bit as a door slammed open and we heard a slithering noise, but saw nothing.
- What was that?! – A soldier yelled.
- That's the target! – Chris answered as we ran downstairs after the creature we can't see.
- Dammit! Why won't this thing show itself? – The same soldier asked.
- Because it wants to kill us as well. – I answered. – If we can't see it, we can't kill it, so it thinks that we'll make an easy prey.
We went deeper into the building with our guns ready to shoot. We turned around the corner and I noticed that one of the soldiers was missing. I looked back and saw that he was looking into a dark corridor.
- Hey! Don't stay behind. – I told him.
- I think I saw something. – He said.
I walked to him and looked into the corridor myself. I turned on my flashlight and looked around. Before I could even react, the huge snake appeared and snatched the soldier, holding him firm in its jaws and knocked me down. The soldier started yelling and I backed up against a wall shooting at the creature. The others noticed us and wanted to help, but the caught soldier started shooting his gun all around. One bullet hit my arm and I winced a bit grabbing for the hurting place. I used my hands to somehow shield myself from the bullets although I was quite aware that this wouldn't help if I would get hit. The giant snake dropped the soldier to the ground next to me. I quickly rushed to his side in order to get him away from the snake. But before I could drag him away, the snake attacked once more.
- Minnie! – I heard someone's voice, but at the moment I didn't really care who was yelling my name, because I was sure that the creature will attack me now. Fortunately, this wasn't the plan and the snake grabbed the soldier that was lying on the ground, knocking me away in the process. It grabbed the soldier by the leg and dragged him away. Before I could understand what happened, I saw Chris running after the snake.
- Chris, wait! – I yelled as I ran after him. He ran into the corridor the snake had appeared from and I was closely behind. Right after I turned the corner and saw Chris, he quickly turned around aiming his gun at me. Instinctively, I shielded my face with my arms. Instantly I felt a hand grasp my shoulder and yank me back. I lowered my hands just to see a tall, muscular back in camouflage right in front of my eyes.
- What the hell were you thinking, pulling a kamikaze stunt like that? – Piers said angrily.
- These are my men. – Chris answered. – You follow my lead or I'll find someone else who will.
- Do you even hear yourself? – Piers continued. – You aimed the gun at Minnie, one of your Team members.
Chris walked up to Piers and stood just inches away from the younger male.
- Fall in line, soldier. – Chris said menacingly.
I was literary shocked at how Chris was acting. He walked passed Piers and me and then I spoke to him.
- What's gotten into you, Chris? It's like you're obsessed with this whole thing. You're not thinking rationally.
Chris turned around and I was greeted with an ice cold glare.
- Look, Minnie. I know that you came here on your own free will because you wanted to help, or whatever the hell your real reason was. So, you're free to leave whenever you want. But until you're here, you are one of my soldiers and you will obey my orders. Is that clear? – At this point I was looking at him wide-eyed. Chris gave me a lot of lectures over my lifetime, but none of them where as cold as this one. – If you can't answer my question you should leave right now. This isn't a playground, kid; I can't look after you all the time. – With that, he once again turned his back on me and walked away. By now my hands were clenched into tight fists which were trembling. If looks could kill, Chris would be dead this very instant.
- You, bastard. – I muttered. I saw Piers moving towards Chris with an angry look on his face, but I stopped him before he could reach the Captain. – As much as I'd like to knock some sense into him, that will have to wait. – Piers sighed in defeat.
- You heard the man. Let's move.
Me, Piers and two other soldiers followed our Captain deeper into the building.
Hi there! Two chapters in one night, I think I've outdone myself this time ^_^ Just kidding ^_^ Guys, I hpoe you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. So please read and let me know what you think afterwards ^_^