Chapter 36

"Ugh," I woke up with a groan as a scream echoed in my ears. "What? Where's the fire?" I jolted upright before giving a gasp of pain as I twisted wrong. "Oh," I calmed my brain down as I realized it was just Alicia freaking out that I was in bed next to her. "Be quiet," I tossed my pillow at her head before setting mine back down on the pillow that I was using to sleep on. "We didn't have sex," I turned so my side was shielded and tried to fade back into sleep.

"What happened?" Rain burst through the door with her Beretta in hand.

"Nothing," I said as I buried my head back into my pillow. "Alicia freaked out that I was asleep in my own bed."

"Oh," Rain said as she lowered the pistol, the shirt that she was using as sleeping wear barely coming down to her mid-thigh. "It's like three in the morning."

"Shhh," I said to Rain. "Sleeping."

"That sounds like a plan," the Latina woman responded. "Alicia, you can move to the couch if you're going to act like that."

"I'm good now," Alicia said as her brain finally caught up to the two of us. "You're good to go back to sleep."

"Done," I said as I closed my eyes and began deep breathing while counting down from ten.

–

–

"So, I hear someone had an interesting night," J.D. wagged his eyebrows at me as he smirked.

"I've had quite a few interesting nights over the last week, you're going to have to be more specific," I replied as I began making coffee.

"I was hoping for more of a reaction," J.D. said with a small frown.

"Due, I'm still in post-op crash," I muttered as I poured my coffee into a cup before opening my fridge and reaching for a big mason jar that was waiting for me.

"What's in the jar?" the other man asked.

"Homemade coffee creamer," I replied as I shook the jar before opening it and pouring it into my coffee before stirring it. "You don't need much, but it works like putting both cream and sugar in at the same time."

"Huh," he replied."I'll have to try some of that later."

"Give me a minute to process the caffeine and I'll be able to respond better," I said as I moved to my small table to drink my coffee in the slight peace and quiet of the morning.

"What happened to you, man?" J.D. asked as he saw the stitches on my side. "It looks like someone tried to carve you up with a sword or something."

"Or something," I agreed as I took another sip. "One of those creatures got me, went right through my kevlar vest as if it were nothing, took a good chunk of me with it too as you can see."

"Yikes," the ex-UBCS merc said as he began drinking his own coffee. "Remind me to bring more firepower the next time we run into those sorts o things then."

"Sure," I nodded blandly as I waited for the caffeine to kick in. "Want to help make breakfast? I'm great at waffles if you'll handle the bacon and sausage."

"Count me in," the man rubbed his hands together at the thought of food. "I'm always down for some good grub."

"Let's get to it then," I said as I stood up and began navigating my kitchen to get the ingredients I needed.

–

–

"So, want to tell us the story of what happened up on the mountain after we left?" Rain asked as we all sat down around the table to eat the breakfast that J.D. and I had made.

"Sure," I said in between bites as I filled my stomach. "But we're going to be here for a little while."

"Hey, Mark!" Jill banged on my door as we began to clean up the dishes from breakfast. "I know you made breakfast, I can smell the food from here, mind sharing some of the wealth?"

"Sure," I said as I opened the door. "We're just starting to clean up now."

"Mark, who are these people?" Jill asked me cautiously as she saw the UBCS members and Alicia, reaching for her concealed Samurai Edge as she did so.

"They're some ex-Umbrella employees who Edward and I met when we got separated from the rest of Bravo Team," I explained. "Long story short, they ended up being set up by Wesker the same way we were. They're just as eager for payback on Umbrella as we are."

"I want the full story later," Jill said as she sized up the UBCS members. "But I'll accept it for now."

"I mean, I already told mine and Ed's point of view," I said with a shrug. "Them sharing couldn't hurt any."

"Alright then," Jill said as she walked over to the cabinet where I kept my plates. "I'm Jill Valentine, the one who typically keeps our resident medic out of trouble. Not that it did any good while we were up in the mountains."

"Rain Ocampo," Rain said as she pointed to herself. "J.D. Salinas, Alicia Marcus, Chad Kaplan, Natalia."

"Pleasure to meet you," Jill said as she started into her breakfast. "Now, let's get down to what happened."