6

The day Jill showed up to work after that night in the hotel, she was ecstatic.

She had this smile on her face that refused to go away, energy coursed through her body despite the fact she didn't sleep the rest of the night, even after she left Leon in that hotel room and went back to her apartment.

"Jill?" Chris's voice chased her down the hallway.

She came to a halt, turning to him with raised brows.

"You're okay," he said, stopping in front of her. He touched her arm briefly, as if to make sure she was really there. "I called you last night."

She paused, staring at him, her smile vanishing quickly. He did call. And she ignored him. Forgot to call him back after she arrived at her apartment. Was too busy texting Leon instead.

"You didn't answer," Chris said. "And then I couldn't reach you anymore. Was everything okay?"

"Yeah," Jill said in a flat voice. "I was just tired. I went home to rest."

"You went home?" Chris raised his brows at that. He gave her a suspicious look. "Then why didn't you answer the door?"

Jill's heart sank to her stomach.

"I drove to your apartment, when I couldn't find you anywhere. Rebecca said she thought she might have seen you leaving, shortly after Leon, but you weren't outside," he said. "And your car was still in the parking lot. Has been all night."

"What, are you stalking me now?" Jill snapped.

"W—No. I'm not stalking you, Jill—you were gone. Just like that. I didn't know where you were. I was worried."

"Worried about what?" Jill held her hands in the air questioningly. "That I got kidnapped again?"

"Maybe, yeah," Chris said, serious. "I even…" He shook his head, as if what he was about to say was foolish even in his head. "I even had this… crazy thought that maybe… you left with Leon."

Jill's throat went dry. Her eyes fell away from Chris. She didn't confirm or deny.

So what if she left with Leon? What did it mean to him? It was hard not to note the slight frustration in his voice, the grimace on his face, at the mere thought of her with Leon.

"I tried calling him, too. And surprise, he wasn't answering, either," Chris said. The pause he gave her after indicated he expected an answer from her. "I figured… maybe, you two…"

"I went on a walk," she interjected. Not that she wanted to lie to Chris. But not that she was planning on telling him, or anyone, about Leon either. Not when she didn't know where it was going with them two, yet. And not after what Leon told her about Chris. Because the last thing she needed Chris to be now is jealous. "To grab something to eat," she continued, "and then I was too tired to walk all the way back to HQ to get my car, so I just called a cab."

Chris frowned. He watched her face for a moment, studied her, maybe even figured out she wasn't telling him the truth. If he did, he didn't confront her about it. "You could have called me."

"You're not my chauffeur," Jill said, meeting his worried eyes with a darkened gaze. Her tone is cold, distant. "And I can do whatever the hell I want."

"I know that—Jill, don't twist my words." He held both her arms, looking her deep in the eyes, pleading. "I just wanted to know you were okay. That's it."

"I need a break," Jill said. She pushed both his arms away with the backs of her hands. "From this…" she gestured vaguely about them, "and from you. Please. Just…" She turned on her heels and carried on toward her office. "Leave me alone."

It's not that Jill didn't understand where Chris was coming from. No, she understood perfectly. He was worried about her. Worried about losing her. Worried about not being there for her. About failing her. But he was overcompensating at best. And at times, Jill felt that maybe he didn't trust her. To take care of herself. To handle things. To take the lead. To be on her own. And if there is anything she needs most, now that she's back to work, it's trust. The one thing Chris won't give her.

And the more he worried about her, the more distant they grew. The more Jill pushed away from him. The more she disregarded his orders. She wanted him to know she was capable. She wanted him to show her that he knew that. And even though, after Alcatraz, she thought things may be headed in that direction, nothing significant changed.

That's another reason why being with Leon was freeing for her. Because he didn't baby her. Didn't underestimate her. Didn't mistrust her. No, in fact, he was pretty happy letting her take the lead.

And she was pretty happy sitting on top of him.

Even now, when things have gone as far as they have between her and Chris, when Chris is finally giving her space to operate on her own, it doesn't feel the same way it did with Leon.

In fact, nothing feels the same way it did with Leon.

"Valentine."

Jill is riding back on a helicopter when her earpiece buzzes and the voice of Darryl from Mission Command comes through. "I hear ya," she says, tapping her earpiece.

"We got an incoming call from the DSO," Darryl says, "patching it through now."

"Roger that," Jill says.

A crackle in her earpiece, then, "Hello?" a familiar woman's voice says. "This is Hunnigan from the DSO's Field Operations Support speaking. Please copy."

"Copy, Hunnigan," Jill responds. "BSAA Agent Valentine here. What can I do for you?"

"Jill, thank God!" Hunnigan says. Her voice urgent, maybe even a little panicked. "Two of our agents are on the field right now. They've been ambushed and one of them is gravely injured. We've dispatched backup, but I'm afraid it won't get there in time. Our intel told us that a BSAA operative was nearby, so I'm reaching out to ask for your help. Can you evacuate our agents?"

"Sure thing," Jill says. "I'll need coordinates."

"Sending them right now," Hunnigan says. "Agent Kennedy was last in touch about five minutes ago. He managed to get him and Agent Birkin to safety, but he informed us that hostiles were surrounding the place fast and might break in at any moment. We suspect there is comm interference because we lost contact with him shortly after that."

Agent Kennedy.

"Leon?" Jill asks, her heart nearly dropping to her stomach. "Is he hurt?"

"No. At least not when I last spoke to him. His partner, Agent Sherry Birkin, is, though. Something about an injection. I don't have all the details right now because of the comm interference," Hunnigan says. "They were investigating a new surge of a G-variant, one that grants superstrength without the mutations."

"Like Sherry, you mean?"

"Yes, only those who are infected aren't quite in control of themselves, much like those infected with Las Plagas," Hunnigan explains. "I can't share more than that. Data is classified, but I hope this helps you know what to expect."

"Got it," Jill says as she checks her PDA. "Coordinates received. I'll head there right now."

"I'm going to try and connect you with Leon, but I don't expect you'll be able to reach him if the interference persists," Hunnigan says. "Please do try and keep me posted if you can."

"Will do." Jill walks over to the pilot as she sends the coordinates from her PDA to the helicopter's Nav System. "Noah, how fast can you get us there?"

"Three minutes," Noah says.

"Then go." Jill nods at him. "We don't have much time."

The helicopter changes direction in seconds, leaving the sea and returning to land.

Noah guides them to hover over what is the only stable-looking rooftop in the otherwise destroyed street. "I can cover you from up here when you move out again, but inside, you're on your own."

"Don't worry about it," Jill says.

"Just let me know when you're ready to go, and I'll be there to pick you up," Noah says.

"Thanks," Jill says, gives Noah a pat on the shoulder before she heads over to the helicopter exit. She takes hold of the rope, then hops off and rappels down to the rooftop. "You're good," she tells Noah through her earpiece, and he moves away with the helicopter to hover over the street.

According to her PDA, Leon and Sherry's last known location is in a school building just down the street from where she landed.

Loaded handgun in hand, she makes her way inside the building and down the stairwell. No doubt the helicopter must have attracted some attention, and she expects to run into hostiles at any given second.

"Hunnigan?" Jill tries, tapping her earpiece. "Are you there?"

Nothing comes through.

Jill swallows before she tries again. "Leon?"

Nothing.

Dammit.

Must be the comm interference Hunnigan mentioned. Here's hoping Noah will be able to spot them once they're ready to leave.

Jill pushes through a door into a long hallway. The place looks like an office building of some sorts, long-abandoned, dust-eaten and dark. Dead computer screens. Empty desks and old files and papers litter the floor.

Footsteps thump somewhere downstairs. Jill takes cover behind a wall and waits, listening to the sound of a door being flung open and heavy footsteps rushing into the building. Voices echo, shouting to disperse and search the place.

Jill takes in a breath. She can try to sneak past, or fight through, but as she scans her surroundings, another option pops in her head at the sight of a window. This building is at least five stories, and she's only made it down two. She'll have to cross fingers there's something to land on out there, but for now, she'd rather not waste precious time before she can get to Leon and Sherry.

Jill remains in a crouched position as she maneuvers toward the window, using desks for cover. She stands on her feet, tries to open the window, but it doesn't budge.

Of course.

Someone shouts behind her—one of the people bursts through the door of the office. Jill immediately shoots holes into the window, then delivers a hard kick to shatter the remaining glass in her way. She leaps out the window without a second thought, and lands on something hard—the roof of a car parked just perfectly outside. With a grunt, she rolls off to the road and picks herself up, holding her PDA in front of her to check which way to go.

Right.

She heads down the alleyway. Shouts and screams coming from the building. A thump sounds behind her. One glance over her shoulder. The infected has jumped after her. He lands on the roof of the car with a hard thud, and the roof seems to sink a little upon receiving the man's weight. He jumps down in an instant and chases after her.

A curse under her breath when she looks ahead, and two more of them show up. She points her pistol and shoots. One of them takes a shot to the arm, the other one dodges to the side.

She cuts through an alleyway on her left, jumping over crates and continuing until she's out on the main road. The three infected are fast to catch up behind her.

Jill dodges when one of them leaps at her, rolling off to the side before pulling back up. But that's enough time for a second one to catch her, his arm wraps around her neck from behind, pressing hard to choke the air out of her.

She grabs his arm with both of hers and, mustering all her strength, throws him over her shoulders and slams him on the ground. He's out with a shot to the head. So bullets do work. Good to know.

Jill is quick to block with her forearm when another one throws a punch at her, and she delivers a kick of her own to his knee. It makes him jolt backward, granting her a chance to shoot him in the head, then dodge when the last one lunges at her. She uses the chance to resume running, but before she even makes it too far, one of the walls of the buildings explodes, and out comes a bulky giant.

Jill comes to an instant halt, nearly losing balance in the process. "What the hell are you now?"

For a virus that's supposed to keep its subjects human, that thing looks anything but.

"Jill!" Noah's voice, though it comes out through the chopper's speakers and not her earpiece. "Take cover!"

Jill watches for a moment as the helicopter positions itself on top of the buildings. She hurries to the right, taking cover behind a truck.

An explosion rumbles the place.

She takes a peek from behind the truck as one of the buildings collapses, its debris blocking the path and creating a barrier between her and whatever that thing is. It won't last long, but it should at least buy her enough time to get to her destination.

Jill stands, holds a thumbs-up to Noah and hopes he can see it from up there, then she resumes her run, checking her PDA for directions, mostly dodging to save up on bullets and trusting that Noah will shoot the hostiles before they can catch up to her.

She arrives at the school building at a loss for breath, but she manages to block the door behind her by pushing a bunch of heavy, stacked crates before she continues down the hallway.

It's quiet and dark in here, with most of the windows barred up. Jill flicks on her shoulder-mounted flashlight, walking with slow, quiet steps to avoid detection. Her PDA indicates the last transmission came from a room just down the hallway, and upon arriving at it, Jill readies her weapon in both hands and pushes the door open with her shoulder.

The door creaks, disturbing the silence, but her flashlight shines on an empty room, with nothing but a trace of blood on the floor. She follows it, the faint, interrupted trail leading out of the room and back to the hallway. Her eyes are focused on finding even the smallest drop of blood as she resumes walking, ears listening for any noises.

Just as she makes a turn to the right, she almost stumbles upon a corpse. One of the infected. No gunshot wound, but looks like he was stabbed in the head. No knife, though.

Jill takes in a breath. Please be okay.

If he's using a knife, that either means he's out of ammo, or that he's trying to be sneaky. She's not sure which one is the better scenario.

Hunnigan said the hostiles had them surrounded, but as far as Jill can tell, the only hostiles here are dead ones. So, either Leon managed to get him and Sherry to safety and they're now hiding, or the hostiles managed to capture them and have already left the building with them.

A shuffle echoes somewhere ahead. Jill's shoulders tense, eyes narrow. She holds her handgun firmer, ready to shoot on sight, inspecting every corner, but just as she gets to the last one, a figure jumps her.

Her gun is slapped out of her hand, and a tight hold around her wrist then a force pushing her against the wall. A knife is held to her throat, but she's fast to grasp the hand holding it, and she's about to deliver a gut-twisting knee strike to her capturer when their eyes lock.

"Jill?" Leon's eyes are wide.

Much like their first encounter all those months back, their "fight" ends as soon as realization settles in.

He relaxes his stance, releasing her as he drops his hand to his side. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you," she says, lowering her guard at last then going to fetch her discarded gun off the floor. She straightens back up. "Hunnigan got in touch. Where's Sherry?"

"Downstairs," Leon says. "In the basement. I had to keep her safe. She can't fight."

"What's wrong with her?" Jill turns to him.

"They injected her with something," Leon explains as he nods for her to follow him down the hallway and toward a staircase. "The G-virus in her body is reacting to it negatively. She's in a lot of pain. Can't walk. Can't talk. Completely incapacitated."

Leon pushes the door to the basement open, and there lies Sherry, on the floor, with nothing but what she assumes is Leon's jacket covering her. Jill walks over to her, kneeling beside her. She slips off one of her fingerless gloves and checks for fever with her palm.

"She's burning up," Jill says.

"I know," Leon says. "We have to get her out of here fast."

"Okay, so you'll carry her, and I'll cover us," Jill says, turning around to meet Leon's eyes while she puts her glove back on. "I got Noah out there in a helicopter, ready to pick us up. We just need to get to a rooftop."

"Right." Leon nods. "Sounds easy enough."

Jill gives him an all-knowing brow arch and pulls to her feet, giving Leon room as he throws his jacket back on, then props Sherry up and carries her on his back

"Hang in there, Sherry," he whispers to her.

It's clear from the tone of his voice, the worry in his eyes, how much Leon cares about her. Just as much as Claire cares about her. Surviving Raccoon City together is something that bonds people for life.

Jill gives him a soft smile then gestures for him to follow as they leave the basement and head back up the stairs. "Did you also run into that giant thing?"

"Yeah," Leon says. "He was quite a big boy, wasn't he?"

"Well, big is an understatement."

"Trying to be polite here," Leon says. "I'm sure it's a sensitive subject."

"Good thing he can't hear you, then," Jill says.

As if on cue, the wall in front of them explodes and in barges the big guy, stumbling on his steps before coming to a halt.

"I think he may have heard," Leon says.

Jill rolls her eyes at the ill-timed joke and nods for him to run the other way. She fires a few bullets, but the giant blocks them with his arm like they're mere paintballs.

Okay. Plan B. Just run.

Jill turns on her heels and chases after Leon and the unconscious Sherry. "Tell me you know where there's another exist!"

"I do," Leon says. "I blew it up."

"You what?"

"Had to stop them from following me somehow," Leon says. "Didn't exactly have a whole lot of options lined up. Least not in equal amounts to the infected trying to kill me and Sherry."

"Right," Jill says, dodging to the right when the giant infected tosses a piece of rubble at them, pushing Leon with her around the corner. "Any other way out?"

"I say windows are our best bet."

"Of course." Jill hurries to the nearest window up ahead, barred as it is with wooden planks, she opens fire at it, hoping the damage makes it easier to break, before she delivers a hard kick to the planks and splits them in half, creating an opening.

"Nice kick," Leon comments.

She jumps out first, ignoring him, then she helps Leon with Sherry before he can make it through, and the two of them continue running down the street, seconds before the wall behind them collapses as the giant runs through it.

"Okay, I'll be honest," Jill says, "when Hunnigan said superstrength, I really didn't imagine running through walls without so much as a scratch."

"There's something different about him from the rest," Leon notes. "I think it must have been an earlier sample of the variant that he's infected with. Either way, bullets are useless, so best not waste them on him. On those guys, however." Leon nods ahead at a group of infected running at them. "I say go wild."

It's a good thing the big dude's weight affects his speed, making him slower than the other infected, who are rapidly surrounding them.

Jill empties a whole handgun mag on the ones ahead, and they're still coming. She loads another mag into her pistol and resumes shooting. Behind her, Leon is delivering hard kicks to anyone who gets too close, knocking them back far enough for Jill to shoot them before they catch up again.

Whirring rotors approach, and the helicopter flies over the street just ahead. "Jill, I see you!" Noah's voice comes through the speaker.

"That our ride?" Leon asks.

Jill nods.

"Get to cover," Noah says. "It's gonna be raining on these bastards."

It's hard to find good cover when the infected are coming from all directions, but Jill opts for the path to her left, where there's the least amount of them, seconds before Noah opens fire. Jill continues to shoot the group running in front of them, but there's no way she'll be able to take them out all on her own.

"Jill!" Leon calls. Behind her, he kicks a door to one of the buildings and nods for her to follow him. She does, running behind him up a staircase.

"I can't call Noah," Jill says. "Comms don't work."

"Well, then let's hope he's got really good eyesight."

"They're right behind us," Jill says. She doesn't have enough ammo for them all.

"Hold on, I think Sherry still has the flair gun on her, can you check?"

Jill checks. She finds it holstered on Sherry's thigh and takes it out. "Thank God."

They take the stairs all the way up to the rooftop, and once there, Jill shoots the flair into the sky immediately. It only takes moments for Noah to notice and fly in their direction.

Footsteps sound down the stairs. Jill claims a spot at the door, shoots a few rounds before slams the door shut and leans against, keeping her back pressed to it as she nods for Leon to go. "Hurry! I'll be right behind you."

Leon rushes toward the ledge, waiting until Noah positions the helicopter properly before he jumps in. He sits Sherry down then turns around, kneeling by the helicopter door.

"Jill!" he calls. "Come on!"

The banging on the other side intensifies, and Jill nearly stumbles when she finally pushes away from the door and bolts for the ledge, shouting and yelling following right after her. Heavy footsteps as the giant barges through. Noah is forced to draw the helicopter back a bit from the building.

Jill leaps off the rooftop, reaching forward, and catches Leon's hand just in time. He holds her firm and tight as Noah flies them higher before the infected manage to jump at her. Leon pulls her inside with force and a grunt. She almost lands on his lap when he falls back, and his hands are quick to hold her waist, balancing her, her own grabbing his shoulders.

They sit there for a moment, their eyes locked.

"How about that?" Leon says. His breath on her face. "We still make a good team."

Good team.

It takes her back.

It takes her five months back, to be precise, to a night that's haunted her longer than it should have. A night that still haunts her.

There's a pause as they gaze into each other's eyes, something she identifies in his as longing, with a hint of regret. The proximity triggers memories, of the way his body felt against hers, and how she wishes to feel it again.

Her smile is small, but present nonetheless. "Yeah," she murmurs. "We do." There's a rush of relief coursing through her. Thank God he's okay. Thank God she got there in time. Thank God he's here. Alive.

His throat works up and down. "Jill—"

A coughing fit startles them, bringing their attention back to Sherry.

Jill shifts off of Leon, allowing him to shoot from his spot toward Sherry, sitting on his knees beside her. "Sherry?" He holds her shoulder. "Sherry, are you okay?"

Her coughing only intensifies, and within moments, her whole body shudders violently until she collapses on the floor, mouth ajar, gasping, struggling to breathe.

"Sherry…"

"Noah!" Jill calls. "We need to get to HQ, fast."

"Working on it."