Ghost sighed slightly after putting the tactical vest back on his torso. He shook his head a little and cracked the bones in his neck. All things considered, that mission had been... easy for him. At least compared to the level of his ordinary missions. However, he knew that for other people, it had been a nightmare.
He let out a nasal laugh. How far had he come to think of a mission like that as "easy"? Sometimes he found himself thinking to himself how commonplace this kind of thing had become for him. How biological weapons no longer meant a real threat... how fear no longer affected him.
There was nothing in that world that frightened him... nothing... and perhaps that had taken away something in him that made him human.
He shook his head again, pushing those thoughts away. He checked his ammunition. The rifle was less than half full, the desert eagle had only a few more bullets, and his trusty Silver Ghost still had a few spare magazines.
He widened his eyes slightly when he heard footsteps approaching, and turned quickly with his Silver Ghost pointed in the direction of the footsteps. He sighed and lowered his weapon when he saw that it was only Sherry.
At first, he was confused, and even a little annoyed. What was she doing there?
However, as she got closer, he realized that something was wrong.
"Sherry... what are you still doing here?" he asked, putting his pistol back in its holster and staring at her.
Her eyes were slightly red, her mouth was closed in a straight line... her cheeks were slightly swollen, her hands were slightly trembling, tightly gripping the handle of the rifle she was holding.
She was nervous.
"I didn't want to leave you to fight alone." She replied, her voice a little colder.
"You didn't have to come back, I told you, that's-"
"That's your job, I know, and frankly, I don't give a fuck. I'm just as capable as any other soldier. Chris, Jill, Parker... I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." She said, rather rudely, and Ghost arched his eyebrows slightly.
Something had certainly happened.
"I never said you weren't, Redfield. I just prefer to work alone." He said, starting to walk towards the exit, hearing the girl's footsteps right behind him, following him.
"It doesn't matter, this isn't work." She said beside him, and Ghost looked at her. "You're just helping, aren't you? It's not part of your mission." She stared back at him, serious, looking deep into his eyes.
Ghost didn't say anything, just turned his head and continued on his way towards the building, ignoring the girl who was walking right next to him, and she, in turn, did the same, despite a lot she wanted to say.
After a few minutes of walking in an uncomfortable silence, they finally reached the building where the rest of the group was.
They spotted Parker at the top of the building, probably keeping guard, and Sherry waved to the man, hurrying her steps and taking the lead.
Ghost watched the girl's back, probably anxious to see Claire again, but the fact that she'd treated him the way she had caused him to feel bad, a bad feeling to spread through his chest.
He just sighed and tried to ignore it. Which was probably a mistake, since his instincts were rarely wrong.
He climbed up onto the roof and observed the girl hugging Claire, the two of them near the corner of the roof. A few steps to his left were Jill and Chris, also observing the scene. To the right was Parker, more focused on observing the deserted street than on the meeting of the two.
Ghost approached Chris, who turned towards him when he heard his footsteps. His face was largely bandaged, he was bloodied, sweaty and looked tired.
Well, from everything he knew about Krauser, it was no surprise, Krauser was quite a soldier.
"Redfield." He greeted him, and they both stared at each other for a few moments until Chris raised his hand towards him.
Ghost arched a single eyebrow disguisedly.
"Not only did you find Claire, but you helped Sherry. I appreciate it." He said seriously, and Ghost shook his hand.
Well, considering the reputation Redfield had, he'd say it was a great honor to get his respect.
"Don't mention it. We have a deal." He said, straightening his posture, and Chris nodded.
"And I intend to keep my end of the deal." Chris said.
"Yes, we'll help, after Chris recovers." Jill said, ignoring the look Chris gave her.
Before anyone could say anything else, Ghost's radio beeped.
"Purgatory to Ghost, do you read?" He heard Ayala's voice.
"Ghost to purgatory, on the wire, purgatory."
"We've confirmed Alex Wesker's presence on the island, and she's at a base below the tallest tower in the city you're in. We've dispatched three teams to her location with our spy systems, including a rescue helicopter." Ayala said, and Ghost almost smiled beneath his mask, ignoring the looks on Chris and Jill's faces when they heard Alex's name.
They had high-tech equipment, specially stored to eliminate high-risk targets. Some exclusively for the Weskers... well, at least they had, some of that equipment had been destroyed.
Alex wouldn't leave.
"Great, ETA?" He asked.
"Sixteen minutes. The rescue helicopter will be waiting for you on the beach northeast of where you are, those are the coordinates." Ghost shook his head.
"Understood, good work, Ghost, out." He said, turning off the radio.
"Can you start explaining?! Alex Wesker?!" Chris asked, a little loudly, nervously, drawing the attention of the two girls and Parker.
"What?" Parker asked.
"Kruaser kidnapped your sister on Alex's orders. She controls this island, this is all her doing." He said, and Chris grunted angrily as he ran a hand through his hair. His hatred of the Weskers was no secret to anyone.
"Well, fuck! What are we going to do? If that's true, then we should deal with her as soon as possible." Parker said, alternating his eyes between Ghost and Chris.
"And she's going to die. I've called in my team to deal with her. What little equipment we have will serve to eliminate her." Ghost said, noticing someone a little... indignant.
"You said you'd help me." Claire said, making Chris look at her with a serious expression.
"What? What do you mean?" He asked.
"And I am helping. A rescue helicopter will be on the beach northeast of here. We have our ride off this island." He said, turning and walking towards the stairs.
"That's not what you said." Claire said, and he stopped. Sighing, he turned to face her.
"I said, and I repeat, you're in no condition to go after Alex. At no point did I say I would help you go after her." Ghost said, staring into Claire's angry, frustrated eyes with pure professionalism.
His insides revolted, he didn't like the look he was getting at all, that anger directed at him made him... uncomfortable.
"You son of a bitch!" Claire snarled, approaching with long, heavy strides. "No chance of me leaving! That bitch has to pay, for everything!"
Ghost remained impassive.
"And she will. But you're underestimating Alex as an enemy. She controls this island, she'll know we're going after her, she'll send infected at us, she'll make us tired, use up our ammunition... we'll be taking an unnecessary risk. My team is already arriving with better equipment, more prepared." He said, staring deep into Claire's eyes, which were growing increasingly frustrated.
"Forget your revenge, Redfield. Don't be corrupted by people like Alex." He said, staring into Claire's eyes.
Anger gave way to frustration, frustration gave way to sadness, and with sadness came tears.
Claire wiped the tears away with her trembling hands, and was soon comforted by Jill, who offered her a hug, which she readily accepted.
Ghost watched the scene for a few more moments before taking a deep breath. Like her, he was also angry. Seeing that happen to Claire... seeing the way she looked, the way she cried... filled his chest with rage.
And it was at moments like these, these moments that were becoming rarer and rarer, these moments when his emotions were strong, that he was grateful not to be afraid of anything anymore.
He then stared into Chris's eyes, which showed an intense mixture of emotions, an internal conflict with what he was feeling. Next to him, Sherry didn't look much different.
However, the girl looked at him with a certain seriousness that was atypical of her...
"The helicopter will be here in 14 minutes and 56 seconds now, we'd better go before other infected show up." He said, turning and walking towards the stairs.
Parker and Chris looked at each other, and Chris nodded for Parker to go ahead as he walked to Sherry's side.
"Have you heard anything?" He asked, and the girl just shook her head in reply.
"No... at the moment, I don't think I know anything else." She said, walking towards the stairs under Chris's curious and questioning gaze.
They descended the stairs and began walking through the deserted streets. Ghost taking the lead, Parker close behind, then Sherry, Jill and Claire and finally Chris, who was getting more and more worried about his sister.
She looked weak... no, the right word to describe it would be "sleepy", she was yawning and seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open.
He heard gunshots just ahead of him, and shook his head as he saw Ghost take out some of the infected. He was so worried about her that he didn't even seem to notice where he was walking, temporarily forgetting that, despite being with her, they still weren't completely safe.
However, as they walked through the deserted streets, close to leaving the city, they heard alarms beeping everywhere. The noise came from all directions, as if they were being surrounded.
They got into position, and Chris gritted his teeth as he saw Claire grunt in pain and kneel on the ground with her hands around her ears. She was dirty, bloody, it could have been anything...
Maybe... infected with something? He knew about her little... superhuman abilities, not everything, since she didn't like to talk about it as much as Sherry, but the thought of that bitch Alex infecting her with something else made his blood boil.
"Claire... Claire, come on, wake up!" He heard Jill say, and without a choice, he ran towards the woman while Sherry and Parker ran towards them, adopting a defensive position.
"What happened?!" Chris asked, kneeling down next to Jill and leaning on his rifle.
"I don't know! She was crying out in pain and then she fainted!" Jill replied, and she looked around when everyone there heard the roars of the approaching infected.
"Holy shit! Of course we couldn't get out that easily, could we?" Parker complained, more to himself than to the others.
Soon, they heard a familiar roar, and everyone there gritted their teeth at the sight of those flying creatures approaching.
"This is Alex's doing! She doesn't want us to leave!" Ghost said, looking around with cold eyes.
He was used to being outnumbered, yet this was literally an army of infected.
He lowered his head and looked at his watch. Eight minutes and forty-three seconds until the helicopter arrived.
"What the fuck! What do we do?" Sherry asked, looking around with some apprehension. They were getting surrounded.
"Fuck!" Chris growled, punching the ground as he stood up.
"Your sister's asleep, Redfield." Ghost said, making the man stare at him. "It's the effect of the herbal mix I gave her. You may not have noticed, but she has a few broken ribs and her leg was shot with a shotgun. The effect should last a while longer, but she'll wake up in a few hours. Preferably in a hospital bed." Ghost said in his strictly professional tone, and that just seemed to put everyone on edge, despite the relief of knowing it was no big deal.
Holy shit, what bad timing...
"How can you stay so calm?" Parker asked, but didn't exactly wait for an answer.
"You can go to the extraction point. It's in this direction, just go straight to the nearest beach." He said, and this time, everyone there looked at him like he was crazy.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! It's an army!" Sherry scolded, nonplussed.
"But that's Alex's idea, she doesn't want to let us go. I can stay here and buy some time, there's still eight minutes until the helicopter arrives!" Ghost said. Those infected, though numerous, were dumb. He could run to the nearest building and buy some time, kill a few infected, then climb up to the roof and attract the attention of the flying ones.
With luck, he could jump from the roof to a nearby window or rooftop and make his way down, he was confident enough in his speed and would probably be able to evade the infected on the ground.
He only had one more stun grenade, so he would have to use it wisely, saving it for a time when he was surrounded or needed to escape from a precarious situation.
He still had a magazine of incendiary ammunition. If he looked hard enough, he could find some alcohol residue nearby, maybe a gas tank or something, if that was the case, he could buy a lot of time with an explosion.
But if he couldn't, he would have to go to a highly flammable place. Maybe that warehouse, there was still a lot of wood and wool there, that would burn some of those infected and buy more time...
By then, Hunk will have arrived, and all he would have to do is run back to the helicopter, which, if he hadn't killed the flying infected, would surely kill them for him.
Considering the time in which the infected were advancing, and the situation he found himself in, this was a good initial plan... perhaps he could do more if he-
"Look, I know this is your job, but what you're suggesting now is stupid!" Sherry shouted angrily, interrupting his thoughts. "Jill and Chris will take Claire there, you and Parker and I can buy more time!"
Parker and Ghost stared at her.
"Can we?" Parker asked dumbfounded.
"Sherry-"
"No, Chris, we came here for Claire and no chance of some crazy bitch getting what she wants! If we all go together, they'll follow us. We can buy a bit of time!" Sherry interrupted him.
"Can we?" Parker asked again.
Ghost turned and punched the first infected to approach, causing the creature to stagger backwards in a daze. He then plunged his knife into the side of the infected's head and kicked its body forward, causing it to collide with another that was approaching and sending both bodies to the ground, whereupon Ghost finished them off with a shot to the head.
"Sherry, are you sure about this?" Chris asked again, looking at her with a serious expression. Sherry returned his gaze with the same intensity.
"Yes." She said with conviction, and Chris snorted in annoyance. None of this was going according to plan.
"Okay... all right, Jill, you cover me." He said, placing his rifle on the side of his torso and leaning his sister against his back.
"Are you sure? You're still wounded." Jill said.
"Yeah, come on, we don't have much time." Chris said, starting to run towards the extraction point. However, he soon stopped two steps behind both Ghost and Parker.
"You two... take good care of her... I trust you." That was all he said before starting to run again.
Ghost and Parker looked at each other, until Parker shrugged.
"After this, I'm going to need a long vacation." Parker muttered softly, and Sherry smiled slightly.
"Relax, I'll buy you a pizza." She said, and then her eyes went to Ghost.
"We just need to hold it here for another seven minutes and forty-one seconds. Eliminate the flying infected first. Avoid the big ones and try to make the smaller ones trip over each other." He said, running off to the right soon after and shooting a few infected with his pistol, attracting the attention of a large number of them.
"Charming, isn't he?" Parker said with a certain irony, and raised his rifle at the flying infected. "Cover me, Sherry."
Parker began firing at the bat-like infected. The explosive ammunition in his rifle dealt massive damage to the things, despite their tough exoskeletons.
Sherry circled Parker while firing at the approaching infected.
One of the infected tried to attack her with a piece of metal. Sherry was quicker and dodged it by crouching down. Taking a step to the side, she counterattacked by hitting the infected in the stomach with the butt of her rifle, causing the infected to bend over from the blow and giving Sherry the chance to stick the barrel of her rifle against the creature's head and pull the trigger.
One of those large infected with an axe approached and tried to attack her. A horizontal cut from right to left. Sherry ran towards the infected and threw herself forward, letting herself slide to the ground and hearing the air being cut off just above her head.
She put the rifle on her back and picked up her submachine gun, a newly-built APC9K that Chris had borrowed for the mission. The gun had a silencer on the barrel and a red dot optical sight.
She fired at the two infected running in front of her and turned to the infected behind her, who had raised his axe to try to kill her.
Sherry dodged by throwing her body to the side and unloaded the magazine of her submachine gun into the infected's body, causing the creature to stagger a few steps to the side, only to be hit by a shot from Ghost's desert eagle, who quickly turned and plunged his knife into the neck of another infected, running towards the small group of infected soon after.
Sherry blinked a few times and sighed, turning around after reloading her submachine gun. As she fired, she noticed one of the large infected grab a smaller infected and throw it towards her. She was quick and dodged it by throwing herself to the ground.
Her eyes then widened as she saw another infected with a huge hammer in the air ready to smash her against the concrete. She gritted her teeth and rolled to the side, getting up quickly and firing at the infected.
Parker fired at the bat-like infected while taking a few steps back. The creatures, realizing the damage they had received, moved away from each other and began advancing towards Parker from different sides. The man sighed angrily; those things had a certain intelligence, to the point where they knew how to coordinate attacks.
He ran back and grabbed a stun grenade. Shortly afterwards, he turned around and threw the grenade high into the air.
The grenade exploded in the air, disorienting both infected, who fell to the ground with great force due to the speed at which they were advancing, causing the concrete to crack from the impact and their bodies to bounce on the ground a few times as they were dragged for a few meters.
He slapped on his tactical vest, rolling his eyes when he saw that he had no c-4 left. However, he still had two mags of explosive ammunition. Good.
He ran to the side while shooting at the bat-like infected on his left, watching as the bullets penetrated the exoskeleton and exploded the flesh.
The infected roared and put its huge tail in front of it as a form of protection while the second began to run at great speed towards Parker.
The man aimed and fired at the creature, firing a few rounds until he finally ran out of bullets. The creature approached and turned its body, trying to attack him with its huge tail. However, Parker was quicker and dodged it by jumping backwards.
The infected roared and leapt towards the man. Parker gritted his teeth and threw his body to one side as he reloaded his gun.
He quickly stood up and fired at the huge infected bat, only to be attacked by the other one.
"Stun grenade!" He heard Sherry say, and he quickly covered his ears while closing his eyes.
The grenade exploded, stunning the two infected, and Parker looked at Ghost who fired with his desert eagle at the bat-like infected on his right, until he ran out of ammunition.
Ghost put his desert eagle back in its holster, having run out of bullets for his gun. He then picks up his Silver Ghost and fires at the infected around him.
He dodges a machete attack from one of the infected by stepping back, then he counterattacks by hitting two shots in the infected's torso, one in the chest and one in the stomach. Ghost then turns his body and lands a kick to the infected's chest, throwing it towards another that was approaching and sending both bodies crashing to the ground.
Another infected tried to attack him, but he ducked and caught the infected's arm. However, before he could kill it, another approached and tried to attack him on his right. Ghost struck a blow to the elbow of the infected he was holding, causing it to drop to its knees and use its body as a shield, causing the other infected to kill it by thrusting an axe into its head, which gave Ghost the chance to land a clean shot to the other's head.
He heard footsteps approaching from behind him, and quickly turned around, only to see the infected's body fall near his feet. His feet rose and met Sherry's, who was looking at him with a certain seriousness.
"It's not so bad working in a team, is it?" She asked, and didn't wait for an answer, heading straight for another infected further on.
Ghost watched her for a few moments. He could do it all on his own... he might get hit a few times and bleed a few arteries, but he could do it...
However, maybe, just maybe, it wasn't a bad thing to have someone watching his back... however, there was a reason he didn't like working as part of a team.
Always relying on someone to watch his back was dangerous, not only did it require trust, but it also made him weak, since he would be used to not watching his back, leaving it in someone else's hands.
And if there came a time when the two of them were separated, he wouldn't be used to being alone, he wouldn't be used to having all his senses on alert... and he couldn't have that.
Teamwork made people weak.
Ghost sighed and shook his head... this situation was temporary... he wouldn't have to worry about getting careless.
Chris gasped slightly as he ran through the forest, his eyes focused on the beach that was already coming into view, and his ears listening to the noise of the helicopter up ahead.
In front of him was Jill, shooting at the nearby infected, which luckily weren't many.
He swallowed some saliva and turned his face, feeling Claire's cheek against the side of his neck.
Well, if what Ghost said was true, then he didn't need to worry about her. However, he wouldn't believe it until she was in a hospital, far away from all that, from that damned island!
They finally reached the beach, and both sighed at the sight of the helicopter overhead. The wind was rustling the leaves of the trees and tossing the sand on the beach.
They both watched with narrowed eyes as the helicopter slowly descended, and the first thing they saw was a man wearing completely black military clothing and a gas mask with glowing red eyes.
The man was holding a military rifle, a K16, usually used by the South Korean military; it was curious to see someone with such a weapon. On his back was an M82 Barret sniper rifle and two pistol holsters, one on each of his thighs.
The agent who probably went by the name of Reaper approached at a calm pace. It was strange to see him there; both he and Jill had only known of the existence of such a man due to a few sightings in one place or another. Seeing a kind of legend in the flesh in front of their eyes was different.
The man stopped a few meters away and raised his rifle, they both blinked, but as soon as he fired, they sighed as they saw that he had only killed an infected who was approaching from behind.
"Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine... I didn't expect to find just you two." He said, his voice coming out a little muffled because of the mask. Were all the agents in that institution obliged to wear masks?
Well, it made sense, since they were so discreet, if someone's face was revealed, it could put the whole institution at risk.
"You must be the reaper..." Jill said, and the man stared at her for a while. The woman swallowed some saliva, even though she couldn't see the man's eyes, she felt the pressure he had on them.
He was as dangerous as Ghost, that was for sure.
"Where's Ghost?" he asked.
"There were a lot of infected behind us... he stayed behind to buy time." Jill said, and the man bowed his head slightly.
"Good, he shouldn't be long then. There are some medical supplies and food in the helicopter, you can refuel, eat and rest. As soon as Ghost arrives, the pilot will take off." He said, just before raising his forearm and pressing a button on some kind of object. It looked like some kind of controller with a small green screen.
Jill and Chris heard the sound of something tearing through the sky, but they couldn't see what it was.
And then they just watched as the Reaper began to walk off into the forest, without saying another word.
The two of them looked at each other, until Chris snorted and walked towards the helicopter.
They stared for a few moments at the pilot, who didn't even seem to notice them there, ignoring them completely.
Chris laid Claire down and began to check her injuries. As he lifted the hem of her blouse a little, he sighed when he saw the purple marks around her torso. Just as Ghost said.
Not to mention that her leg was fucked up. Very well bandaged, but it was time to change those bandages.
"Oh my God..." Jill said as she took the bandages off. It wasn't a very good sight.
"At least it's healing... but we'd better get her to a hospital, just to be sure." Chris said, helping Jill clean the wound and change the bandages, and the two sat down shortly afterwards.
There were boxes of ammunition scattered just ahead, as well as bags of military food and canned goods, as well as some mixed herbs and medicinal products.
"... So... what's the plan after that?" Jill asked after a few minutes in silence, and Chris ran his hand through his short hair, feeling his heart throb in concern for Sherry.
"Help that guy stop Wesker. See what he's got, and hopefully kill that son of a bitch as soon as possible." He ran his hand across his eyes, feeling a certain weariness in his body.
"Is it okay to let these guys take care of Alex?" He sighed, focusing his eyes on the forest, and feeling his heart calm down as he saw Sherry, Parker and Ghost walking towards them.
"Well... we don't have much choice. Not to mention that I owe that guy, Ghost."
Jill stared at him for a few moments, until she leaned back in her chair.
A short while later, the helicopter took off.
Ghost cracked the bones in his neck once more as he waited for the others. He crossed his arms and sighed a little. His wounds no longer bothered him, although his body was still a little tired.
He couldn't wait to get out of there and go to sleep.
In front of him was the image of Hunk's mission. Everything was going very well, Alex couldn't predict what they would do.
They had an EMP plane thousands of meters above the island, everything and any electronic object was deactivated or suffered some kind of interference, except theirs, of course, since they were created precisely for missions of that type. And of course, this ended up releasing some of the infected into cryogenic tanks, which delayed the mission a little, but everything was going according to plan.
He ran his hand down his mask and then looked at his clothes. He was wearing a black military tracksuit, his shirt was long-sleeved and he was wearing gloves. His pants were also black, along with boots of the same color. It was strange for him to be standing without the weight of his equipment, he didn't have many rests like that, he always carried rifles, shotguns, pistols...
At the moment he only had his Silver Ghost and his trusty knife.
The door to the room he was in opened, and he minimized the screen of Hunk's mission. He then crossed his arms again and waited for them to enter.
"Ghost. Have you been here long?" Chris asked after greeting him.
"I was checking on Hunk's mission." He replied, nodding to Parker, who then sat down in a chair on the other side of the table.
"And how's it going?" Jill asked, taking a seat a few chairs to Parker's left.
"So far, so good." He replied, watching Sherry sit two chairs to his left and Chris sit two chairs to his right.
"So, what do you have on Wesker?" Chris asked, and Ghost shared a different screen on his computer.
"Location and status." He said, and a few screens appeared on the world map. "Wesker has been spotted in Kijuju, West Africa." The screen showed some images from satellites and cameras in some locations in the small village, showing Wesker with some groups of armed local men.
"He's probably still there."
"How can you be so sure?" Jill asked, still staring at the screen.
"Because he's weak, and probably pretty pissed off about his recent losses." Ghost said, and the image of a strange liquid in a syringe appeared. "This is something my organization has developed over the years. Hunk managed to inject it into Wesker, and he's probably currently looking for something to combat it."
"And what exactly is that?" Parker asked, leaning his arms on the table.
"A kind of poison especially for individuals like Wesker, it will make him weak, slow, sick for a while. Maybe even kill him, although that's highly unlikely." Ghost replied, bending forward slightly and also leaning on the table.
"Kill him? But Wesker is incredibly resistant, immune to some types of virus even. How did you develop that?" Jill asked, curious and surprised.
"Because the man I work for is Albert's brother. William Wesker." He said, and they were silent for a while, the air getting a little heavier, and Ghost felt Chris's piercing gaze on him.
"What?!" Parker asked, unconvinced.
"Exactly what you heard. For years, we've been collecting blood samples from William, since his DNA is extremely similar to Albert's. And then we managed to develop something that could target him." He replied.
"If what you're saying is true, then... why? It doesn't make sense." Sherry asked.
"Incredible as it may seem, William also wants his brother dead. He was considered a failure because he didn't agree with the kinds of experiments Spencer was conducting and because he thought his very existence was a mistake." Ghost explained.
"And you believed him?" Chris asked, somewhat nonplussed.
"No, but the fact is that William stole, created and invented all the equipment we have. It was he who made what I do today possible. So far, he hasn't shown himself to be like either of the brothers, but no matter what his true intentions are, after Albert, he's next." Ghost said, and Chris sighed.
"And how can you be so sure of that? For all we know, he could be planning something just as bad as Albert." Chris argued.
"I'll take it upon myself to kill him. But if neither I nor Hunk can, and he really is planning something, Redfield, then the world is screwed. Just hope that doesn't happen." He said, and Chris sighed defeatedly.
"Okay, right... so, Wesker's sick, so to speak, great, that must have delayed whatever his plan was." Parker said.
"Exactly. It's unlikely that he'll be able to heal, at least not that quickly. But we can't give him time to recover. We'll have a single week's rest, after which we'll gather everything we have and go after him." Ghost said.
"The BSAA will be able to help, we'll have some helicopters and weapons at our disposal, as well as some soldiers." Jill said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.
"We can't draw too much attention to ourselves. Wesker is clever, if he sees the helicopters and the soldiers, he'll definitely run away." Ghost said, shaking his head.
"But he'll have lost whatever lab he has in Africa, as well as his research." Parker argued.
"But the point is that we don't want Wesker to escape. We want him dead. He may no longer be involved with Umbrella but I'm sure he has allies there, we can't let him contact them." Chris said.
"That's if he hasn't already done so." Sherry said, and Ghost agreed.
"I think it's unlikely, but possible. In any case, it will take time for him to recover, that's for sure. Wesker has been spotted in two places. In a small village, and a few kilometers away in a mine." He said, showing both images on the screen.
"Two teams... I doubt he's on the surface, his ship was destroyed thanks to Hunk, which means he's not in the water either, he's definitely underground. The village leads to a system of caves that run all the way underground, and the mine follows the same principle, the difference being that there's a path that leads directly to this particular airport." Ghost said, showing the map of both locations on the screen.
"Parker and Jill will lead a small team, five people in total, through the village. You and I, Redfield, will be in charge of the mine. Hunk and my team will monitor both situations from the air, ready to help both of us in the event of any unforeseen circumstances and inform us of any strange movements. We'll spare no resources, we'll gather the best soldiers, weapons, ammunition and equipment. We can't fail, Wesker has to die." Ghost said, straightening his posture soon after.
"The mission will take an estimated total of eight hours, maximum. Everyone will be equipped with m16 rifles with 45-round magazines, +P (pressurized) ammunition for greater damage and a holographic sight. As a secondary weapon, a SIG SAUER M17 pistol with a night scope. Each group will have its own line of scouts, defenders and a sniper equipped with M82 Barrets with suppressors and armor-piercing bullets." He said, showing the models of the weapons on the screen.
"Any questions?" Ghost asked.
"If we run out of time, what do we do?" Jill asked.
"Hunk will be on the scene." Ghost replied.
"What if one of the teams becomes unavailable?" Parker asked.
"Then Hunk will send a replacement team along with a rescue team." He answered again.
"What about me?" Sherry asked, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.
"You're not going. You're just here to find out how things are going to be and explain to Claire afterwards." Chris said, and Sherry breathed in frustration, even though she already knew she wouldn't be part of that mission.
It was obvious that Chris would never let her, especially after Claire.
"I'll send you more details after I get more information. I'll spend this week keeping an eye on things. I suggest you get some rest." He said, and after a few moments, they got up from the table.
"Well, I'm going to take a nap. Then we can go train, Redfield." Parker said, walking towards the door, until he stopped and turned around. "You can come too, Ghost, it'll be good to learn a few things from you."
Ghost turned slightly, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
"... We'll see." That was all he said, before Parker shrugged and left the room.
"You should go back to the infirmary. Come on, I'll walk you." Jill said, watching Chris get up.
"I'm fine, Jill." Chris said, a little irritated, tired of being in that place.
"No, you're not, and you have to stay there when Claire wakes up, it will comfort her." She said, and they both walked towards the door.
Ghost sighed and put a hand on his waist, going back to staring at Hunk's mission screen. At the moment, he seemed to be walking through the corridors of a laboratory. There were a few infected lying on the floor and a grenade-like object in his hand emanating greenish smoke. Good to know that the smoke had worked, the infected couldn't react when he got close, which made it easy to eliminate them.
"What are you still doing here, Sherry?" he said, without looking at her. The girl was still sitting in the same chair as before.
"When did you decide to become a soldier? To fight bio-terrorism?" She asked, and Ghost looked at her with an arched eyebrow. She had her head resting on her arm and was looking at him with a neutral expression. However, her eyes were shining.
Something was up.
"Why do you want to know?" He deflected the question, and Sherry snorted in a nasal laugh.
"Nothing, just wondering. You're so skilled, so smart... I wonder what might change if you were in a few disastrous incidents." Sherry said, looking away from the screen, watching Hunk dodge the blow from what looked like a Hunter.
The place was too dark for them to see, and the camera hadn't yet turned on the night vision.
"There were incidents, you know? Outbreaks in the eighties, nineties... even some recorded in the late seventies. Of course, you didn't exist yet. If you had, maybe Raccoon City wouldn't have suffered such an end. Were you created because of that?" She asked, standing up and taking a few steps closer to Ghost, then crossing her arms as she stared into his eyes.
"Our organization was created in the early nineties, before that, William was gathering enough power. I was created a few years later. Raccoon City wasn't something we could interfere with. We didn't have enough power." That was all he said, feeling a strange sensation in his chest. He didn't like it, he was feeling something he hadn't felt with any known bio-weapon.
He was beginning to feel pressured... and that worried him.
"Somehow... I don't believe you." She said, and Ghost swallowed some saliva.
It was amazing how he could feel so... surrendered, so pressured with a girl who was less than half his size.
"Believe what you want, Redfield." He said, looking away, his tone strictly professional, which made Sherry cluck her tongue.
"How long do you plan to keep this up?" She asked, and sighed as she received no reaction. "Take off the mask."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." He said, still not looking at her. However, his heart was pounding in his chest, his muscles tensed in nervousness and he was trying to concentrate on the computer screen.
"I know who you are." The words made him hold his breath without even realizing it, his throat seemed to close up. He tried not to react, but Sherry certainly noticed his chest rising and falling with a certain frenzy.
No, there was no way she could have found out, it didn't make sense, he had never taken off his mask, his voice had changed and he hadn't even mentioned anything about his past.
However, his eyes soon widened slightly. He remembered the moment he saw her in that warehouse. A few moments after he had tended to his wound, she had appeared... it was at that moment that she had changed.
Ghost swallowed some saliva again... she saw the scars...
"Look at me." She tried again, but he ignored her.
She saw the scars... if that was the case, then surely she knew who he was, she had helped tend to some of the wounds, touched some of the scars more than once.
"A man as strong as you afraid to face a little girl? That's pathetic and you know it." She scolded again, but Ghost refused to face her.
It couldn't be... not after so many years. His training had turned him into a machine, and that was the way he should stay, he hadn't trained so hard, he hadn't gone through all that just to have his dead identity revived. He couldn't let it.
"Look at me, Leon!" She shouted, and he closed his eyes.
But of course she knew who he was... he'd been careless... just made a slip...
Nah... Sherry was smart, she always was... he should have been twice as cautious around her.
With short breaths and a closed throat, he looked at her, and his blue eyes met hers. The girl's mouth was slightly trembling, and she was so emotional...
"Take off your mask... please." Her request sounded more like a plea, reaching Ghost's cold heart, which for the first time in a long time, felt the sensation of warmth.
His human side took over, his side so battered, so beaten down and buried under seven feet rose from the ground like a damn zombie in a graveyard... and without thinking too much, without listening to his agent side, he took off his mask.
And for the first time in a long time, he let himself feel exposed.
It finally fucking happened! Thank God.