Chapter 6

Jill

Jill stood in the range waiting for her new shooting partner. She had arrived a few minutes early. She wanted to make sure she was used to the odd weight of her new sidearm before it was her turn to fire. She had disappointed herself. An air shot was unacceptable. She had been told the guns would be unique, but Wesker would not allow her to touch any of them before the test. The rifle and automatic were difficult; the berretta was unmanageable. It was too light. Even with the decreased weight, the kick was still as powerful as a normal gun. That also threw her off and made her lose time before the second shot. She could have had the highest score. Now she was sixth.

"Hey there," came a voice, "I'm Chris Redfield." She turned around to see a dark-haired young man in his mid-twenties holding out his hand for a shake. He was six feet tall and well-built. Wesker had told her plainly that she wouldn't have made the cut without his intervention. She doubted he knew she was aware of that, but knew that the awkward smile on his face suggested it was something he feared. She placed her gun in the left hand and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Redfield," she said. "I'm Jill Valentine."

"Is it Ok if I call you Jill or, do you prefer Valentine?"

"Jill is fine. Don't worry about that."

"Alrighty. You can call me Chris."

"Thanks."

"So...uh. Reason you already have a gun in your hand."

"Oh," said Jill. "Just trying to get used to the weight."

Chris's expression became awkward again. It was easy to see he had to tell her something that would be aggravating. "Um...," started Chris, "Wesker wants us to use different guns today."

"What?" said Jill in disbelief, "why?"

Chris had walked over to an armory chest. "He's not worried about your aim, but your abilities with using weapons on the fly.

"Aren't we going to be using the same weapons in every mission?"

"I think so."

"Well what do you normally do?"

"I'm not really sure."

Jill was dumbfounded. "How many days have you been on this team?"

"Officially or days worked."

"Days worked."

Chris seemed to be more and more reluctant to answer with each question. "This is my first day," he finally admitted.

"What are you doing training me," said Jill not hiding her frustration. "Why isn't Wesker, or Marini, or Barry, or anyone else more than a day old?"

She could tell Chris was just as bewildered as her. "I honestly don't really know. I was kind of blindsided by this. In my opinion, you don't need extra training. I think you just need more than four seconds with a new gun before you shoot it. This whole thing is as ridiculous to me as it to you. But I don't make the rules."

"So how did you get stuck doing this? Did you request it?"

"No. I hate waking up at five in the morning."

"Then how did you get selected?"

"Wesker just told me it was my job."

"Was that before or after you convinced him to let me join?"

Chris was taken aback by that question. "You know you deserved to be on this team. Everyone who saw you knew it."

"Everyone saw the test?"

"There were four of us up there and the range is rigged with cameras. Look, I honest to God don't think I convinced him shit. The more I think about it the more I think he likes to screw with new recruits' heads to keep them ready for anything. That's why he has cameras in here. So everyone always thinks they have to impress someone. I'm pretty sure I was always going to have to come here early because he didn't like my shooting either. If you ask me, we were going to be paired up from the beginning. He knew you were going to make it. He just wants us to bust our asses thinking we owe him."

That did make sense to Jill. It was the only scenario Jill could think made any sense. She relaxed. Chris was a nice guy. "I guess you're right. Sorry about getting a heated."

"Perfectly understandable. This seems just as dumb to me as it does you. But let's see what we're working with...holy shit."

"What?"

"Have you ever seen Barry's Handcannon?"

"No."

Chris pulled out an enormous .44 Magnum and checked it. It was already loaded. He put the weapon down as quickly as he could. Jill could not tell whether he was afraid of breaking Wesker's rules or shooting a hole in the wall.

"Barry used to blow up broken toilets with it," said Chris. "I never got to use it. We were supposed to take turns shooting targets. There was never a target after the first shot."

"What else is there?"

"Let's see...there are also an unmodified Berretta 92, an assault shotgun I've never seen before, and more ammunition than we could possibly need. Wait there's a note from Wesker. 'Use in this order: Magnum 20 yards, Berretta 10, and shotgun 5; only headshots count. Failure to hit the target in the head will cause the test to start over. Headshots will not be counted during the magnum or shotgun rounds unless the entirety of the head is destroyed. Thank Barry for getting Umbrella to donate enough money for targets.' I think I'm going to kill Barry," finished Chris.

"At least you finally get to use his gun."

Chris smiled at her. "Somehow he always finds a way to brighten my day.

For the next hour and a half the two tried to complete the test. What Wesker did not say was that the targets were timed to go down if they were not shot quickly enough. Whenever they did score one magnum shot. Another magnum target would pop up. They both realized with horror that Wesker wanted them to unload a full magnum clip in 10 seconds.

Chris had to restart three times before he decided to take a break. His hand was red from the kick of the Magnum. Jill could tell it would be swollen before the end of the hour. Jill did not anticipate the Magnum's kick which caused her to lose enough time after the first shot to start over. She managed to make it to the Beretta round but could not force her swollen hand to switch quick enough. The two then took turns for the rest of their allotted time. Neither of them made it past the first half of the Berretta round.

"Do you think he's going to make us do this everyday until we score perfect?" she asked.

"No. I think he's going to make us do it everyday until we score perfect, and then he's going to change the weapons and make us start over."

"I'm not sure I'll be able to shoot this tomorrow."

"It could be a problem," said Chris raising his hand. He had a Ziploc bag filled with ice held against it. He offered one to Jill and she was quick to accept.

"So what do you think he'll say when he sees we didn't get passed the Beretta round?" asked Jill.

"I'll probably say that you two will be running five miles tonight when I'd rather you be working in the office," came the voice of Wesker from behind. Jill and Chris both stood up to salute; an awkward gesture with their bandaged hands. "No need for the salute. I am disappointed that you did not make it to the shotgun section, but I didn't honestly expect you to make it. Tomorrow, I'm going to give your hands a break from cruelty of Barry's Handcannon. You will get to choose three weapons for preset distances. You will not know the distances until after your weapons are selected. This range is very large, so prepare for variety as much as you can. You can report to my office at 4 o'clock before you run you five miles."

"Sir," the two saluted again simultaneously.

"Now for some truly important news: Next Monday S. T. A. R. S. will be considered active again. Sullivan and Marini have agreed to double as Field Medics for Bravo until Marini comes to grips with Rebecca Chambers being his best option. Now remember: Alpha Team works days, Bravo Team works nights. You will be given a beeper. You must keep it on you at all times. In the event of an emergency with Bravo Team, you will be contacted through it and are expected to report to the Armory room within 30 minutes. Failure to do so will result in the immediate loss of your job. You will of course use sirens to make the commute easier, but I doubt you'll have much trouble in a small town like this."

"Sir," the two said once again.

"Don't worry about "sirs" until we're in the field. Now go get some coffee. You two need to wake up."

"Thanks Wesker," said Jill.

"Don't mention it. Stop talking to me and take advantage of my kindness. You only have ten minutes for coffee."