Chapter 34
"Good riddance," Wesker spat at the mansion that he assumed had taken Lisa Trevors with it when it exploded. "Now, let's see about getting you to the right buyers," he mused to himself as he pulled out the unbroken CD still fresh in its case.
Meanwhile, a short distance away but hidden by the shadows cast by the burning mansion a figure stood up and patted the tiny flame that smoldered on her shoulder away before staring into the flames for a long while. A lone tear dripping down Lisa's face as she struggled to find her voice.
"Mother," her voice finally croaked out, the sound of her natural voice shocking her as it seemed to ring in her ears for the first time in decades.
Turning away from the fire, she saw the figure of The Hated one darting off in the distance, his speed greater than hers but she was not concerned. She would hunt him, and one day he would be killed by her own hand. But first, it was time to mourn.
"Kenneth is going to need a hospital when we get back," I said as we neared the RPD. "Brad, can you radio ahead that we're going to need medical services on standby?"
"He's not the only one going to a hospital," Rebecca said as she gave me a glare. "You're just as wounded as he is, if not more so."
"I'll be fine until we get back," I replied with a small smile. "I'm not in danger of losing my balance and getting more hurt like Kenneth here is."
"We have everything Kenneth took on video right?" Forest asked as he checked his SR-25 for any damage. "Because I'd hate for us to have lost our guys for nothing down there."
"We got it," Rebecca said as she patted her medical pack. "I'm leaving a blank tape in the camera though, just in case Umbrella decides to try and have someone destroy the camera."
"We'll have to make copies of the tapes though," Barry said. "And scatter them among us and some of our closest friends. Otherwise, they'll be able to just clear out and destroy the evidence that we all have."
"So we're going to push against Umbrella?" Jill asked. "That's what we're dead set on?"
"They're the ones who researched and developed all of the creatures we encountered down there," Rebecca said with a tired sigh. "Which means they're responsible for not only putting Wesker in the right place to engineer all of this but also for the deaths of Richard and Joseph."
"We're going to bring Umbrella to justice," Captain Marini said firmly. "But we're going to have to get back home first. We all need some rest, and to recuperate from our ordeals over the last couple of days."
"ETA back to RPD HQ is fifteen mikes," Brad reported.
"Something wrong, Chris?" Jill asked, noticing that her best friend was oddly silent.
"I trusted him," Chris hung his head between his knees. "Wesker lied, straight to my face, he even had me convinced that one of you was trying to get the rest of Alpha Team killed. Jill, I'm not certain I'm the kind of man who you should trust if my judgment is that off."
"Chris," Jill shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we were all convinced that Wesker was on the up and up. He was our captain for a year, remember?"
"Wasn't just you that trusted him," Forest said with a gesture around the chopper. "All of us here did, and he did have our backs for two years before this. So don't beat yourself up over it, I'm sure there will be plenty of other things we can rag you on later, but this isn't one of them."
"We're about to land," Brad said as the chopper began to slow down. "And just in time too, we're almost out of fuel."
"That's a ton of people down there," Forest said as he looked down onto the brightly lit helipad. "And they've got some people in riot gear."
"Mark, put this in the bottom of your pack," Captain Marini ordered as he field-stripped the MGL. "No, don't ask why right now, I'll explain once we get done with this."
"It looks like they've got SWAT on standby," Brad said as he lowered the chopper gradually to the ground. "Captain Welles is pissed, I'd tread carefully."
"It certainly doesn't look like we're getting the red carpet treatment," Barry said with a grim look on his face.
"Just keep on your toes people," Captain Marini said as he mentally prepared himself for the storm that they were about to face.
"Touching down now," Brad said as the helicopter set down entirely on the helipad, both Chris and Brad going through the proper shutdown procedures before following the other members of Alpha and Bravo teams out onto the pad.
"We've got wounded here," Rebecca said as soon as we got off of the helicopter, her and I helping the wounded Kenneth over to a stretcher before anything else.
"He's got busted eardrums and probably a concussion," I reported. "We've done rough checks but he'll need a more in-depth check-up."
"And Mark here is going to need more than a few stitches," I tore off the vest and handed it to Rebecca so that the paramedics could take a look at the massive gash in my side.
"Now hold on a goddamn minute," Captain Welles said. "You're not taking him anywhere yet," he gestured toward me. "Where the fuck is Captain Wesker?"
"Dead," Captain Marini stepped up and stood in front of the SWAT team captain. "Just like the rest of us almost were."
"I don't give a rat's ass what happened to you," Welles stated coldly. "I've been fucked over one too many times by Captain Wesker and you STARS assholes to care."
"Hold on a minute, Captain," Chief Irons stepped forward. "Now, you, you're fired," he pointed at me. "STARS teams Alpha and Bravo, you're hereby suspended pending an investigation. I"m not sure what happened up on that mountain for you to come back without Joseph Frost and Richard Aiken, but we will find out. Now, if you'll turn in your guns to the nice gentlemen standing here."
"Get fucked," I said when a SWAT member tried to take my Glock and my Sig Sauer. "Last time I checked, this was the USA, and I'll be damned before you take my personal firearms."
"He's right," Captain Marini said as he held a hand over his 1911 and his Samurai Edge. "You can have the weapons that belong to the RPD, but you're not taking this."
"Fine," Chief Irons spat out. "Take the guns that belong to us and get them out of my sight."
"Come on guys, let's get out of here," Jill said after she had handed over her rifle and vest to one of the SWAT team members. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need a drink after this."
"I'll meet y'all at Jack's after I get stitched up," I said as I was finally allowed to lay down on the stretcher. "We can work out more stuff then."
"What the hell happened after we left the mountains?" Rain asked as she pointed at the TV. "Local news has our guys on it right now."
"Man, it looks like they got beat up," J.D. muttered as he reclined on the couch. "Ed looks like he took a beating, and Mark looks like he's lost a lot of blood. The rest of them just look exhausted."
"If their night continued the way ours started I imagine that they're ready to do a post-op crash," Kaplan said from the kitchen counter where he was sipping some coffee. "The SWAT Team members looked worried. Like they thought the STARS Teams might snap and try to kill them or something."
"Maybe that's what they were told," Alicia said from her spot. "Considering how scary they look to me, I bet they look a whole lot scarier up close."
"And even training doesn't manage to get rid of the kind of fear that a good operator produces in most rank and file,' Rain added. "You know what I mean, J.D."
"Yeah, I do," J.D. replied. "So what do we do next?"
"We wait for Mark to get home and then we try and figure out what our next moves are," Rain shrugged. "I'm not exactly a genius here, but if Umbrella thinks we are dead, then we should probably continue to lay low until we have a rock-solid plan."