Thank you for the encouraging reviews, they enabled me to finish this chapter. I'm not sure I like the structure of this one though; it's kind of fragmented. I'll let you see for yourself. Also, thank you to 'Super Girl' and 'jess', for their anon reviews.
I don't own Resident Evil.
Red
The zombies were going to get her. Despite her young age, she understood that quite clearly. These things were not people anymore, and they wouldn't hesitate to hurt her.
So she backed up as quickly as she could on her injured leg, struggling to get away. The hoard continued to advance.
"No! Get away!" she cried desperately. It made no difference. She tripped, she fell. She panicked.
Suddenly the zombies were thrown aside, by something much worse. Something that used to be her father, but now there wasn't much of him left. The vague human aspects of the monster were overshadowed greatly by the mutating effects of the G-Virus.
The huge, red eye that sat imbedded into its right shoulder swivelled towards her.
"No!"
The monster stalked towards her, reaching out an arm to grab her.
"No!" Sherry screamed, her eyes snapping open. It took her a few seconds to realize she wasn't back in Raccoon City. She wasn't about to be infected with the G-Virus by her own father. She was safe.
Or at least, as safe as she could be when hiding from the Family. Sherry sat up in bed, glancing around the dark room, listening intently. All she could hear was the wind and hail.
She sighed in relief and flopped back onto the mattress, before pulling the thick duvet tight around her body to keep out the cold. It was comforting to be in a warm, cosy place while the freezing storm raged on outside.
Sherry allowed her eyes to slide closed once more. Flashes of her nightmare appeared before her eyes, and she frowned. She needed to think of something else.
"Koocheng is up ahead, at the mouth of the river." she informed him, checking her phone to be sure.
"All right. Come on." Jake replied, jogging a few steps away, eager to get going.
But Sherry didn't follow, instead staring at the location on her phone with a troubled expression. What if Leon was right, and Simmons was not the man she thought he was?
Jake knew what was on her mind. A few months ago he would have told her to stop being so pathetic; she shouldn't have trusted in anyone but herself anyway. Now he knew better. He walked back to her.
"You're worried about Simmons, right?" he asked.
Sherry nodded once, not trusting her voice. Jake stepped in front of her so she would look at him.
"You're gonna be fine, okay?" he whispered, promising her with his eyes. He knew she was stronger than she thought she was.
She met his gaze, nodding. She truly believed him.
Sherry smiled slightly, now able to sink back into the depths of sleep.
"You're gonna be fine..."
"Leon!" Claire called, jogging into his office. Said man glanced up at her.
"You find something?" he asked. Leon was going through Sherry's most recently completed paperwork for the fourth time, trying to see if she'd left any clues as to where she was hiding.
She nodded, explaining in a rush, "I just got off the phone with Chris. He said Jake's heading to Siberia, he thinks Sherry is there."
Leon stood up, "How does he know?"
"She apparently gave him a GPS tracker. It's her last known location."
"Finally, a decent lead," he muttered, walking around the desk towards her, "All right, let's pack some supplies and get going."
Claire nodded once more, resolute, "I have a good feeling about this."
"Good." he replied as they left his office, "But Siberia has a lot of ground to cover, does Jake know exactly where she was last?"
"A town called Verkhoyansk, in the republic of Sakha."
As soon as Jake touched down in the small airport of Verkhoyansk, he thanked the pilot and headed to the market.
In hindsight, perhaps he should have prepared better for the freezing conditions; Jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket weren't going to do him any good here. He needed warmer clothes, desperately, or an archaeologist may be chipping away at his frozen corpse in a few decades time. The mercenary didn't have any money...but he did have plenty of guns.
Jake managed to trade his Bear Commander for boots of reindeer skin, a sheepskin coat, thick gloves, a scarf, and a hat made from fox fur. The kind woman let him change in her house, before sending him on his way with some thin slices of icy, raw fish and a couple of frozen red patties to eat; of what, he wasn't sure.
He'd described Sherry to the woman and asked if she'd seen her, but she had shaken her head. So he carried on asking the other townsfolk that spoke a little English, with minimal results.
What was once a series of laboratories in the underground facility the Family had built was now reduced to rubble, ash, and twisted metal.
"Damn it." Chris muttered. There was no way any files or samples could have survived.
"They must have up and left," Jill stated, "and cleaned up their mess while they were at it."
"It explains why we didn't run into any resistance." The BSAA Captain agreed, "All right men, let's get back to HQ, there's no evidence to uncover here."
The small group of soldiers turned and walked away, but Jill placed a hand on Chris' arm to make him hang back. He looked at her questioningly.
"It's risky to be investigating into the Family's business, Chris." she told him softly, "We don't know who they are, or who's involved with them. If the previous Chief Security Advisor was a member, then they probably have connections everywhere. The BSAA's funding could be cut, you could be discredited-"
"I know." he responded, "But regardless, they caused the terrorist attack in China, so it's our job to bring them down."
Jill smiled, "I know you're passionate about stopping bio-terrorism. But I just want you to be cautious. We may be in over our heads here."
Chris nodded, "You're right, I'll be careful." Then he lowered his voice, "Maybe it's best if you sit this one out-"
"Don't be ridiculous, Chris Redfield." The woman interrupted determinedly, "I'm sticking with you no matter what. We're partners."
He smiled at her, and reached out to twist a lock of her hair between his fingers. Hair she had to dye brown due to the strain her body had been through when under the control of Albert Wesker.
"I just don't want you to get hurt, Jill." he confided, tucking the hair behind her ear.
She reached up and laced her fingers with his, pressing his hand to her cheek in reassurance, "I'll be fine. We can handle this. Together."
He hoped she was right.
She wasn't here.
He'd asked around, searched everywhere. She wasn't here. She must have moved on.
"Damn it!" Jake exclaimed to the universe, frustrated.
Only a horse breeder on the outskirts of town was near enough to hear him. The man beckoned him over, and Jake complied.
"Hey, I'm looking for someone. She's about 5"6, blonde, short hair, gray eyes, smokin' hot," the mercenary described once he reached him, "You seen her?"
The man said something he didn't understand. Jake shook his head in disappointment, "Sorry, I don't speak Russian."
The man sighed, before pointing pointing north east, away from the town.
"Huh?"
The horse breeder threw his hands up in frustration, before trying again, "Girl." he said in a strong Russian accent, "Bought horse here." He gestured so their surroundings, before pointing in the same direction as before, "That way, far away."
Jake's spirits lifted as he was filled with a renewed sense of purpose, "Thanks."
He turned to leave in the direction the man pointed to, but stopped. If Sherry had needed a horse to get to wherever she'd been going, it was likely he'd need one too. The mercenary turned back to the horse breeder. He gestured to the nearest horse, then to himself.
"Ah." The man made a noise of affirmation and nodded, rubbing his fingers and thumb together in the universal sign for 'hand over the cash'.
Jake took out his shotgun from his backpack and held it up. The man laughed and nodded, holding out his gloved hand which Jake placed the shotgun into. The horse breeder handed the reins of the horse over to him.
"Female. Lidiya." he told him. The Yakutian horse was small and stocky, with a thick mane.
The mercenary nodded, "Thank you."
They shook hands.
Ada Wong had been hired by the Family to ensure Leon and Claire did not get to Sherry. She could do that.
The Partenavia P.68 the two were flying in would just have to make an emergency landing, that was all.
Dressed in warm layers, Ada patiently waited for the plane to pass over her location. The large tent she had been using was very warm in contrast to the freezing conditions outside, but still she waited.
Then she saw it. The small plane was coming quite close to the mountain she was staking out on. Ada took aim with her sniper rifle.
They were very close to the town of Tura of the Evenkiysky District, so Leon and Claire would be able to take refuge there. Plus she knew for a fact Leon had some basic knowledge when it came to driving a plane, so he wouldn't crash and burn. At least, she sincerely hoped not.
Ada had to keep her friends close, and her enemies closer.
"Sorry Leon." she whispered, before pulling the trigger.
Like I said, it's fragmented. Not sure if that's a good thing. What do you think?
Thanks for reading.