Unfortunately there's no Chris or Jill in this chapter, but they will be in the next one. Thank you to 'jess' and 'Isla Bell' for their very nice anon reviews.
Red
The first thing Claire became aware of was the cold. The all encompassing, disquieting kind of cold that seeped right down into her bones. She realized she was shivering, probably because she was face down in snow.
Then she realized something was burning.
The Terra Save member opened her eyes slowly, to see the ruined remains of the plane, burning fiercely. Oh yes, now she remembered. The pilot had been fatally shot. Leon had tried to keep them in the air, but-
Leon!
Claire raised herself to her knees quickly, only to regret it in the next second. Her body ached all over. She brought her hand to her neck and rubbed away the sharp pain there. Glancing around for Leon, she found him about thirty feet away, motionless.
The woman crawled over to him slowly, fearing the worst. She checked for a pulse once she reached him; he was alive, thankfully.
"Leon, wake up."
Leon remained still, so she lifted his head and placed it in her lap, folding her legs under her. When her left hand came away bloody, her eyes widened.
"Oh God." The woman muttered as she examined her partners head injury. The small cut was bleeding profusely, but Claire reminded herself that head injuries always looked worse than they actually were.
"You're clearly not waking up for a while." she told him pointlessly.
Claire sighed and glanced around. All she could see for miles was snow. She warred with herself for a moment. Stay here and try and keep warm until Leon woke up, or venture into the icy wilderness and hope they would find shelter?
"Well Leon," she said brightly, "Looks like I'm carrying you."
Ada silently watched on from her vantage point as Claire tied the supplies to Leon's back before lifting him onto her own. She would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't worried about Leon, but it seemed Claire would make sure he pulled through; she was a Redfield, after all. They'd be fine.
Still, she'd watch over them until they reached Tura, just to be sure.
Jake had been riding north east for half an hour. He was starting to get impatient again. Sherry truly had gone to great lengths to make it difficult to find her. The Yakutian horse, Lidiya, would need to rest soon, and so would he. Preferably in a relatively warm place, or he wouldn't survive the night. His face was starting to sting from the cold, even with his C-Virus enhancements.
"Good girl," he murmured to the horse as she struggled through the snow, "Can't be far now."
Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed something gray against the stark white of the snow. It was moving towards him from his left. Jake pulled gently on the reigns to make Lidiya stop.
A wolf was prowling slowly towards them.
"Ah shit." he whispered. This wasn't good. Usually wolves would be harmless, but this one looked like it had its hungry eyes set on the horse. And maybe him too. Perhaps lack of food had driven the animal to desperate measures.
Even worse, wolves hunted in packs. This one couldn't possibly be alone.
The mercenary dismounted the horse quickly, drawing his handgun. His eyes scanned the area, and sure enough, four more wolves were closing in on him.
Jake pointed the gun to the sky and let off a warning shot that made the wolves jump back in fear, and Lidiya reared in shock. He threaded his right hand through her mane to keep her still, and she shifted uncomfortably. The wolves didn't leave.
"Alright then," he muttered, "You asked for it."
The first wolf he'd spotted was the closest, and was obviously making a beeline for the horse. The creature was picking up speed, intending to lunge and latch onto Lidiya's neck to take her down. Just as the wolf shifted its weight to its hind legs to pounce, Jake shot it between the eyes. It fell to the ground with a loud whine, dead. He turned, gun raised, to confront the other wolves. They seemed to understand they would not be getting any food from this encounter; they were backing away, before they turned and ran.
Lidiya snorted, and the sound seemed triumphant. Jake smirked as he pulled himself up onto her back.
"You don't get any credit." he told her, as they set off again, "I did the work."
She snorted again, haughtily this time. He shook his head.
They continued on for another fifteen minutes. Then he spotted something in the distance that looked like...a log cabin. It looked fairly sturdy and spacious from the outside. He tried not to get his hopes up, but he prayed Sherry was in there.
Claire had paused a moment to catch her breath. Leon seriously needed to lose some weight. She wanted to stop and rest for a while, but the ominous howling she heard frequently deterred her.
The Terra Save member struggled on, although the cold was starting to get to her a little. Even her high tech snow apparel seemed to do little to keep her warm; her fingers were beginning to go numb in her gloves, her ears stung, and her throat hurt with every breath she took.
Another long chorus of howls started up again, much closer this time. Then suddenly, it cut off.
Claire stopped as she heard growling behind her. She turned around slowly, to face five wolves, spreading out around her to box her in. They must be awfully hungry to dare attack a human, she knew. She didn't want to risk placing Leon down and leaving him defenceless, so she reached for the handgun on her hip hesitantly.
A shot rang out unexpectedly, and the wolf closest to her dropped. Claire made the mistake of turning her head in the direction the bullet came from. Another wolf pounced on her, knocking Leon away from her as she fell to the ground. She raised her forearm to hold off the wolf before it tried to take a bite out of her neck. Drawing her handgun, she shot the animal in the stomach, and pushed it off her.
More shots were going off, and another two wolves were down by the time Claire got up. She aimed at the last creature that was running towards her, intending to pounce.
It fell to the ground with a bullet between the eyes, but not from her gun. The shot came from behind her this time. She turned around.
"Leon, you're awake." she noted, lowering her gun.
"Yeah, just in time." he replied, placing his handgun back in its holster, "Who else was shooting them for us?"
"I have no idea, I didn't see."
"Well, let's just be grateful and keep moving, or we'll freeze out here."
After stoking the fire in the living room with more dried wood, Sherry entered the stable connected to the cabin in order to tend to her Yakutian horse, Viktor. She made sure he had plenty of hay and water, before offering him a red apple as a treat. Viktor turned his nose up at it.
"Fine, I'll eat it then." she told him, leaving him be. Sherry had developed a taste for apples since meeting Jake; they reminded her of him. She took a bite as she moved to her bedroom, intending to grab a book to read.
She paused when she heard a noise coming from the stable, but shrugged it off. It just sounded like Viktor was making a fuss because she'd left. Then she heard a bang and a clatter, and the sound of the stable gate opening and closing. That couldn't be the horse.
Sherry quickly placed the apple down and picked up her Triple Shot from the bedside table. She checked it was loaded before slowly making her way to the living room.
A knock at her door made her jump slightly, before she frowned. Why on earth would a member of the Family, or J'avos under their control knock at her door?
She made her way to the door, and took a deep breath to prepare herself for the cold gust, before throwing it open and raising her gun.
The man behind it automatically raised his handgun upon seeing hers, but they both lowered their weapons at the sight of each other.
"Jake." Sherry gasped, her heart skipping a beat.
He smiled, "Hey there, super girl. I've been looking for you."
"Leon, look!" Claire called over the wind, pointing towards lights only yards away.
"Looks like a town." Leon responded, picking up the pace. Claire followed, glad they could finally get out of the cold. God, what she wouldn't do for a hot bath.
They entered the industrial town of Tura and headed towards what looked like an inn. Upon crossing the threshold, they were almost immediately confronted by the innkeeper, who scoffed at their 'high tech' snow gear.
"That won't do here," he told them, "You need animal fur."
"We know that now," Claire replied, "Can we please stay here?"
"Of course," the man said, addressing her first, "Your room is up the stairs, second door on the right." Then he turned to Leon, "And yours is directly opposite."
Leon and Claire shared a confused look.
"Don't we...have to pay?" the woman asked uncertainly.
The man nodded, "Your friend has already paid four thousand roubles for you to stay."
"What friend?" Leon asked.
"A woman. Slender, pretty, short black hair in a bob."
Leon frowned. That description sounded awfully familiar.
Sherry dragged Jake into the cabin quickly before shutting the door. Then she turned and threw her arms around his waist, overjoyed to see him. The mercenary reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pressing her to him tightly.
Inhaling the sweet honey and vanilla scent that emitted from her body, he realized he finally felt whole. Now that he knew she was safe; now she was real and tangible in his arms. He would've quite happily held her for a very long time.
But Sherry pushed him away suddenly.
"What do you think you're doing here?" she asked, sounding irritated.
Jake frowned in confusion, "What?"
"Jake, I've gone into hiding for a reason. You're in danger by being here with me."
So that was her problem. He scoffed.
"I'm serious," she told him, "You need to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere, Sherry." he replied stubbornly.
"Jake-"
"I'm not leaving." he cut her off, his tone final.
Sherry brought a hand to her forehead and sighed. She knew once his mind was set, there was no discouraging him.
"Fine, you can stay for a while." she conceded, crossing her arms. Jake smirked victoriously, and she couldn't help but smile back slowly; she felt as if everything would be okay as long as he was close to her.
Alright, that's that. I was going to update hours ago, but we had a power cut, so sorry about that. Thank you to those who have reviewed so far, your words are very encouraging. :)