He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her, he was smitten. From the moment he felt himself pull the trigger against that hulking behemoth; he knew he wanted to help her. Carlos knew as he carried her away to their safe spot in the train station, that he wanted her to survive. She proved she was strong, and he could tell she was used to keeping her guard up, which he felt as he assisted her to the train station but had sensed her walls were up higher than ever when he said he worked for Umbrella. She lashed out at him. She blamed them. He didn't understand why he wasn't interested in the politics of the company he worked for. He knew he was a simple foot soldier, and the company had no care for them.
Umbrella offered him a chance to get out of the mercenary game in South America. God only knew how much he wanted out of the cartel wars in Columbia and the offer was a million times better than what he was getting paid. Drug lords paid well but there was always the unnecessary conversation of telling his mom he might not make it home that night or leaving her praying at the church for him several hours a day while he was away. He took the Umbrella assignment without thinking about anything outside of the fact that they promised to extract him and his mother out of the country and to a safe location while he trained and went out on missions. That was over a year ago and judging by the look she had given him; he knew she was thinking he was an idiot for believing in Umbrella, but he hoped she would trust his actions rather than his words.
Besides, like it or not, Umbrella paid the bills. He brought her to Mikhail, his captain, to show her that he was someone she could trust, by revealing his commanding officer, something that is frowned upon in any kind of situation where there are enemy soldiers, but it meant something to see that. He knew that in any kind of high intensity situation that would be considered the highest act of trust amongst allies, especially since she had none by the looks of the city police force mindlessly wandering the city. She had training, her physique gave that much away. Sure, she looked like she could use a few days sleep but otherwise, he could tell she was toned by her exposed arms and her gait as she walked. It reminded him of the military, but not the amateur kind, the kind like T, who were ex-special forces and got recruited by Umbrella. They could have tried to recruit her, but she obviously hated Umbrella, so she had to be part of the police force in some capacity.
His captain, however, could tell that he was smitten. Carlos knew he hid it from her well, but Mikhail as always was one that no one outside their unit could read his poker face. It was what had won the captain a great many negotiations for their unit when it came to payments and equipment. That was that famous Russian poker face that the unit joked about, could fight a bear head on and the bear would run from Mikhail, not him run from the bear. Murphy always said that Mikhail could read a man with his eyes and know what he was thinking, and Carlos finally understood what that had meant. For the first time since he joined the UBCS, he could feel Mikhail reading his body language and his actions when it came to the young woman behind him.
After all, she was his type, smart, beautiful, and strong all mixed into one woman. Murphy and T would probably say she reminded him of his mother with the no nonsense attitude she had but T would be able to see what Carlos was seeing her. It went beyond reminding him of his mother and more of a stir that she gave him that he used to feel before he was a mercenary. Back in his days of being a young teen in love with the daughter of a sicario and having to hide from the world how he felt for her. Jill stirred those fiery emotions instantly and he knew he wanted to have her back, help her escape this hellscape they found themselves in. Whether he lived or died was not an issue in his book, just as long as she got out.
"Hey Captain, this fine young lady could use our help," Carlos began as she came in behind him cautiously. She had walked past them both, looking at the exit to her left and the civilians in the other car before walking back towards them. He was watching as the older man eyed her carefully, doing a quick study of her before responding, "Carlos, you didn't even think to ask fine young lady her name." She had given him a proper look by this point and was eying him just as intently as he was her as he continued, "She is an elite operative of R.P.D. Special Tactics and Rescue Service. Her name is…something…Valentine." She replied curtly but politely, "It's Jill," as she took a seat across from the pair. Carlos had grabbed the first aid kit and was trying to look at the wound of the captain but the old tank kept talking, ignoring his attempts.
"Nice to meet you, Jill. I am U.B.C.S. Platoon Leader Mikhail Victor. My team was sent here to rescue civilians," he stated as he looked over to the civilians in the other car, clutching his wound on his side and grimacing slightly. "Right. How's that going for you?" Jill asked sarcastically. Ignoring her tone, Mikhail continued, "The city is completely cut off. Isolated. Most of the hundred thousand civilians will wind up dead. Ah, correction: undead." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes but kept silent as he went on. "My platoon has suffered serious losses. Just keeping them alive is more than I can manage." Carlos stole a quick glance at his captain as he heard the words come out his mouth, 'Old man is blaming himself for all the casualties already and probably feels like dead weight with us.'
Jill spoke up, "Well, you can thank your corporate overlords for that." 'She sounds like she is speaking from experience. Although, more so the losses than the corporate overlord part.' Carlos wondered. "Yes, well… We are doing all we can. If we can get this subway train moving… we can evacuate some survivors. But we need help. My men cannot do this alone." Jill looked away before looking back at them and responding, "Alright, I'm in." She stood up as she continued, "But I am on their side. Not yours." Carlos injected calmly between the tense duo, "Oh hey, hey, that's cool. We all want the same thing." He glanced back at his captain who had his scowl on his face but replied, "Thank you, Jill."
Carlos closed the first aid kid and figured now was a good time to bring her up to speed on their plans. He got up and handed her a radio, "Alright, supercop. Here you go. We can use this to stay in contact." Passing her the device, he had to resist the need to snap back at her response, "I know what a radio is." He smiled, picked up his weapon and continued, "Okay, first things first. We need to get you geared up. Head up to street level. You'll find supplies there." "Alright," was all she managed to say as she left the train car and headed towards the stairs.
Watching her make her way up to the surface, he heard the older man chuckle, "You've got that fire in your eyes. The kind a man gets when he is willing to die for love. You have just met her, yet you already feel something strong enough to motivate you to get out of here alive." This caused Carlos to let out a dry laugh, "No, the motivation is to make sure she gets out of here with these civilians. She is one of their own. She could guide them better than we could."
Mikhail nodded in agreement, "Best you clear the track then. If she is to get out alive, she needs this train to move." Nodding Carlos made his way to the front of the train, grabbing the shovel, he made sure to give her a ring first to make sure her radio could pick him up and call him if he needed to be of help to her. "Jill, it's me again. Topside yet?" A quick response followed, "Working on it. So, what's the plan?" He resisted the urge to laugh, 'All business she is. Definitely a spitfire that is used to guys probably underestimating her.' "The old tank's got me clearing the track. Mind getting the subway infrastructure back online?"
He began moving the rubble out of the way as her voice filled his ear, sarcasm dripping from it, "And how do I do that?" The urge to respond in kind was suppressed again as he coolly replied, "Let's start by restoring power. I'll navigate you to the substation once you hit the main road." Jill replied, a semi-edge to her voice, calm but also on alert for possible threats, "Copy that. Let's do this fast."
'Is she worried about the behemoth that was following her earlier? I shot him clean and clear. He may not have fallen down, but we got away in time before he got back up. Plus, there is no way it could have seen us run into here. She should be able to go to the substation and to the subway office without any worries. Aside from all the undead corpses wandering around.' Carlos grunted as he finished with the shovel, having to get on his hands and knees in order to move the brick and cement that had fallen on the tracks but were too big to clear with a shovel. "Damn, I really wish T was here. Could use some company," he joked. He continued in silence for a few more minutes before the pinging of his radio happened again in his ear.
"Carlos? I've reached the main avenue. Which way do I go?" Jill asked. 'Damn she sure as hell moves fast. Must be all her unit's training, although she does carry herself in a way that has more military discipline than the average cop you see.' Carlos wondered to himself. He had made his way over to the platform to climb up. He needed the map to explain where she was headed. "See a big transmission tower? That's the substation. You'll have to circle around through an alley to get there." He climbed back up onto the platform, heading over to their map of the city. 'Pointed her in the right direction. Thanks for circling it, Murphy.' Carlos heard Jill reply, the annoyance or irritation coming through the com, "You mean the alley that's on fire?" This time Carlos couldn't refuse a smart remark. "... Maybe? Surely a tall drink of water like yourself could put out a few flames." Her reply was short and blunt, "Fuck you."
Signing off again, Carlos let out a big laugh. 'Was NOT expecting that answer. Although I am flattered by the invitation, I rather take you out on a proper date and then maybe get the invitation to your bed in a more consensual less chaotic life or death manner. Seriously though, why the hell does everyone say fuck you when we are in the middle of chaos? Makes no damn sense to me.' He smirked at the thought and moved back onto the train, sitting across from Mikhail. He was studying his captain, making sure that he did not fall asleep, or rather that he did not die. He was not looking forward to having to put a bullet in him already.
"Carlos, when I die, I want you to put a bullet through me. Preferably my head. Don't want to come back and find myself amongst the dead. Would be better if you put me out of my misery before then," Mikhail said as he was escorted onto the train they found. The tracks looked to be in excellent working condition. Tyrell was running point with Nikolai and Murphy was bringing up the rear with the remaining ammo cache they had left from the other members of their units that had perished in the madness of the city.
They had been inside the main hall of the city hall, setting up a type of command center when they had been attacked by the undead citizens of Raccoon City. They were able to hold back the attack while the small group of civilians, which they had found inside the city hall as the unit had cleared the various floors and Mikhail as always made sure the exit the secured, but someone must have tried to open the doors because that was the only logical explanation for the undead getting inside. It turned into a blood bath quickly, more than a third of the team had died and turned while the civilians tried to escape. Whichever ones did escape had made it to the train station with them with no one showing any signs of being bitten or infected. Nonetheless, they were kept in a separate train car, just in case Mikhail had changed or if someone was hiding their infected status.
"Hey, you're getting out of this alive," Carlos replied coolly. "Like the rest of us. We made a promise to each other, no man left behind. Especially after that damn clock tower." Murphy snorted at his words but made sure to add, "Yeah and we also promised to put bullets into each other if they showed signs of turning into those freaks. Let's be real Carlos, the captain doesn't look like he will make it." Carlos felt his blood boil at the words, a painful reminder of the fate that awaited their captain, but he still wanted for the man to have some kind of hope before the end. Some kind of reason to still fight for his life.
"Look, we need to evacuate civilians, do the tasks that were assigned to our units and get the doctor that is supposed to be held in the police station. So, let's get to work. We might be able to use this subway car as a way to evacuate civilians and travel through the worst areas. We can also keep the captain safe this way. Any objections?" Tyrell questioned the men as he began to set up the cases of their ammo. He laid out the map and circled the key points on the map that they needed access to or where their objectives would be.
"If anyone encounters anything that could be read as a blocked area or where there are hidden civilians, radio in so we can make the changes to the map as needed. Anything that could give us an advantage to not dying would be good. Now we need to get the train back online which is going to need power. Our first objective will be to clear out the station here so that we can safely transport or let civilians know that this is a safe zone for them. If anyone has any spray paint that we can use on an outside surface pointing in, that would be great." Tyrell added. Carlos couldn't help but smile, 'T is always on the objectives. Gotta hand it to him for keeping so focused.'
Nikolai, who had observed in silence, finally spoke up. "I will take the most difficult task we have at the moment and take it. The sooner we get the hell out of this city, the better." Tyrell nodded in agreement, "That would be finding which stations we would be able to cross through to get out of the city. Nikolai, you need to follow these tracks and tell us what you find as you go. One of us stays here with the captain, another clears out the street level around this station and sets up signage for those civilians who haven't turned. Additionally, we still have to complete the task of finding Dr. Nathaniel Bard, an Umbrella researcher who was working on antivirus vaccines for the company. His research could help us save the captain. For now, Carlos, we are going to have you stay here with the old tank. Keep him alert and if he shows signs of turning, shoot him."
Carlos nodded, "Fine, I will stay in the area immediate to here. I'll go street level and see if I can find any way to let survivors know we set up base here. Also, I can set up a trap further up the track to make sure we don't get ambushed again. I'll take these C4 packs and head out there first, so try not to head out until I get back. Last thing, the click system for us to communicate in hour intervals. If you don't click back after three clicks from me three times, I am going to take it as you're KIA." Tyrell rolled his eyes, "You know I hate the click system." Carlos smirked, "It's quieter than asking you to check in." Nikolai smirked, "He is right, Tyrell. We need to be as quiet as possible in this situation, alerting the dead to our presence is the last thing we need." Tyrell groaned, "Fine. Everyone remember their clicks?" They all nodded. Carlos smiled, "Good hunting, gentlemen."
No one had radioed in for the last hour and Carlos knew he couldn't ask Jill to be on the lookout for his fellow teammates. He had been standing in front of the map they had, red marker in hand ready to make any changes to it. He hadn't changed anything besides making a note of the fire Jill mentioned in her last transmission. Instead, he decided to do a click check in. Each member had an assigned number of clicks and formation to do so which made it easier for them to discern who was on the other side of the clicks. Carlos created the system in his old mercenary days and only he and Mikhail knew all the individual clicks for each member. He knew it would be easier than talking to the radio as clicks were quieter than voices which wouldn't attract attention to anything in the area if they were hiding or trying to be cautious in their travels. He clicked the radio over to a second channel and gave it a ring, hoping that there was someone still alive.
"Who's clicking the radio?" Came a concerned voice. It was Murphy, he sounded a bit on edge and was whispering into the line. Carlos waited a minute before clicking again, using three clicks which was his way of telling them it was him. Murphy clicked back four times, his way of responding to Carlos, which made him smile. Shortly after, he heard five clicks which were from Nikolai letting them know he was okay as well. Carlos made a note of knowing there were two members who responded. He clicked three times again and waited. The only one who hated their click system was Tyrell and he warned them he wouldn't respond if he heard them, but Carlos smirked and told him he would keep doing it until he did so he was shocked to hear two clicks, Tyrell's response. Carlos smiled and quietly spoke to the receiver, "Haven't heard from anyone in an hour. Checking in. Captain is still kickin." They all clicked in their respective orders before Carlos switched back over to Jill's separate line.
'She should be able to get to the substation without any incidents. I could check in on her, but her last transmission wasn't that long ago and she definitely told me to fuck off basically.' Carlos thought to himself. He went back to Mikhail and sat across from the quiet man who was watching him intensely. "Status report of our men, Carlos?" Smiling Carlos responded, "So far, guys are okay." This caused his commander to smile in return. He looked to his right seeing the civilians that were in the other cart, drinking water and eating some of the snacks they had procured from the convenience stores up above. To the commander's right was a small pack of C4 explosives that had yet to be put together.
"Making another bomb captain?" Carlos asked calmly. He knew the old tank was great at putting together and disarming explosives but seeing his captain put together a bomb only meant that the old man was setting up a backup plan on top of their current situation. "Call it insurance for any kind of changes that get beyond our control. No repeats of the city hall." Carlos nodded knowing that the city hall attack was too much for any of them to understand. "How the hell did that horde get in? We locked the doors, didn't we?" Mikhail nodded in response to his question but didn't say a word, almost as if he had something on his mind about the incident. 'Funny how the doors to escape locked themselves after Nikolai went out to patrol.' Mikhail thought to himself. Keeping the thought to himself, he went back to building his bomb.
He knew as he looked at the woman before him, she had been through hell and back trying to get away from that hulking behemoth. After all, the titan had been chasing her throughout the city since he first rescued her from it. The only thing he was able to fully gather is that it did not care to attack anyone else besides her, it hit zombies out of the way when it came to them being in the way and she said it would constantly call out a single word: STARS. She was unconscious when he found her at the clock tower. Whatever fight she had gotten into with it had resulted in her being knocked out cold and there was no sign of the monster that had been chasing her before her radio cut out. The only thing that he did briefly notice was what looked like a chopped off limb from the creature by the lowered gate.
Seeing her lying there, he ran up to her, tossing his gun to the side and calling her name as he rolled her over from the position, she was currently lying in. It was obvious she had gotten into another fight with the giant monster but what the extent of her injuries was, he could only guess. She was cold as ice at first touch, and he could not properly assess her injuries here, they were too exposed to the elements as well as the possibility of zombies and bioweapons coming around, especially should the behemoth decide to make its return to finish her off.
"Jill!" He called out, "Hey, answer me." She didn't respond to him as he lifted her slightly, "God damn it!" Her skin was filthy, and she had lost color as she appeared to be near death. He felt himself panicking as he searched for her pulse…the faint sign of a heartbeat there. Carlos radioed Tyrell, "Tyrell, do you copy?" was all he could calmly manage, fighting the panic building in him and trying to not jump to conclusions or the worst case for her.
"What's going on?" Tyrell replied immediately.
"Jill's been infected, I… I'm taking her to the hospital." Carlos responded, the panic beginning to take over his voice, "Maybe Dr. Bard can save her." 'Calm down stupid, she needs you levelheaded to get her to safety. Panicking for her won't help either of you and can get you killed,' he thought to himself.
"Alright, I'll meet you there," Tyrell responded calmly. 'That's the T I know. Always calm no matter what the situation is.' Carlos thought as he helped her up. His mind was running a million miles a minute, most of them kicking himself in the ass for not being there to back her up every single time she was in danger from the hulking behemoth. 'I doubt my presence would have helped her but I'm sure she would have felt better having the backup. Especially after the train crash and the captain dying. I wonder if she could fill us in-if she gets better.'
Pulling her onto his back, he felt himself say reassuringly, "You hang in there, supercop. I got ya." 'She sure is light as a feather, wonder if she was eating regular meals before or if she's just naturally this thin. It's a miracle she hasn't broken any bones tonight. Where the hell did she get hurt from? Did that fuckface do this?' Carlos smirked at the name he gave the behemoth, resisting the urge to laugh out loud. Getting a firm hold on Jill, he went to grab his rifle, and made his way towards the hospital which was only a couple blocks from the clock tower he was currently at. Thankfully, the streets seemed to be quiet.
He didn't see any signs of the undead, but he also knew not to trust what he was seeing visually. He took a cautious step forward towards the street, his ears listening for either moans or the shuffling sound of undead ankles coming towards them. He held his breath, hoping that Jill didn't make any sudden sounds to alert the dead he was nearby. He stood still for a solid minute before he decided the coast was clear enough before taking a couple more solid steps towards the hospital, which could be seen from where he stood in the skyline. Even if it was drizzling rain, he knew that for September, it was a little chillier than he was used to.
Carlos found himself alone with his thoughts since his partner was out cold, leaving him no company to talk to. He found his memory of the night before coming to mind. He remembered what Mikhail had said before Jill rejoined them after running away from the massive behemoth that had been chasing her all night. Carlos was stressing out worried about Jill, but Mikhail reassuringly told him, "She's a fighter and her team specializes in rescue missions. If anyone can lead these people to safety, it is her. Not only that, but she's also a resident of this city, she knows the layout better than we do. I'm more than certain she could survive any scenario she encounters. Have faith in her, Carlos." He smiled warmly at the younger man, before she rejoined them. Carlos shook his head to shake the memory and focused on getting them to the hospital alive.
He had carried her all the way to the hospital, the area where he was to rendezvous with Dr. Bard. She had barely moved or even shown signs of breathing the entire time he was carrying her, which worked out in their favor as it had prevented any unnecessary fights with the undead. When he got to the hospital, he went into the first room hoping nothing was in it and that it was secure enough for him to leave her there while he found the doctor and got an antidote for her. But before he could move, he heard his name in a light whisper.
"C-Carlos?"
"Fight it, Jill. I'm gonna get you the vaccine." he responded. She groaned slightly, before going quiet again. 'Hang on supercop, I'll get ya patched up. Hopefully the doctor's vaccine research isn't some bullshit trail we are following.' He double checked his gear before heading back into the main lobby, scanning the surrounding area for any undead life. He noticed the ammo caches by the central pillar, making his way over to investigate and collect any ammo he could for the investigation of the hospital.
Now I have to find the doctor as well as get the vaccine for Jill. If I find one, I will more than likely find the other. The only way to find out is to go forward into this place. Carlos took a deep breath and ventured back into the hospital lobby, radioing Tyrell before going forward. "Tyrell, where's Bard now?" Tyrell responded immediately, "Gotta be in the lab in the back. Stay frosty. I'm on my way." "Copy. I'll go on ahead." He continued through the double set of double doors to a lobby only to be greeted by more undead, including one who clearly wanted a snack out of the snack machine. "I don't have time for this!" Carlos shouted as he took out the trio as quickly as he could. The banging on the door clearly meant he still had more undead and the lack of overall electricity in the hospital was showing as some rooms were well lit.
Ignoring the electrical problems, he continued through the hallway, passing by gurneys that were empty and things thrown across the walls of the hallway. Some blood here and there along with the fact that the skies were clear, so the moonlight lit the hallway. Pressing forward, he entered a lobby where he saw a pair of double doors with a panel and was greeted by an electronic voice, "Welcome to the office of Dr. Nathaniel Bard. Please state your business clearly into the intercom." The room was spacious and well-lit thanks to the ceiling window that showed brightly above reception. Making his way to the desk, he saw a tape recorder and grabbed it. Knowing he would need a tape to fill in for the voice of the doctor, he decided to head towards the other door towards the back and press on, hoping to find a tape of the doctor's voice somewhere in the facility.
Going through the doors, he found more undead, some inside the room and some on the other side of the glass, not really banging on it due to the original lack of life in the room. Carlos tossed a flash grenade and slipped past the group of zombies, assuming the door in the back of the open hallway was locked judging by the red key card reader to the left of it. Continuing on, he found himself in another hallway, only the path forward was blocked off with furniture. 'Must have tried to create a barricade to limit how many casualties they would have to deal with as the virus spread. Staff clearly were trying to keep the civilians amongst the living. Although so far, seems to have been in vain.' He hated thinking so negatively, but the area was showing him no signs of positive outcomes as the hospital had been a ground zero of sorts for the madness plaguing the city.
Looking to his right, he saw a set of unblocked stairs. He decided to go up since he didn't really see any point in trying to get around the barricade or go to the left, which appeared to be part of the garden. Going up the first flight of stairs, he nearly jumped out of his skin when a corpse fell onto the stairwell. Raising his gun up, he held still in the stairwell landing to see if there were any more zombies or corpses deciding to drop in on him. He waited for a solid minute before he carefully went up the stairs to see the hallway blocked right at the opening to the hallway. When he stepped in further, he saw that the entry to the right was also blocked off. Turning to his left, he saw another set of doors, 'Well obviously, they want me to go behind this door. Here's hoping it isn't a trap.' Taking a deep breath, Carlos pushed the doors open cautiously, only to see a body on the ground. 'This completely screams trap.'
As the doors closed behind him, it moved and was getting up, but Carlos shot it in the head several times before it stopped moving. He cautiously moved around the roof to make sure there were no other members of the undead committee lurking about. Going through the second set of double doors, he found himself in another hallway, this time with a little more space to move around than what he saw before. They were clearly over the garden area; the right side was barricaded and to his left was a hallway with doors and a map on the wall. Walking over he cautiously opened the first door to find the room empty of undead but well-lit and giving a welcoming vibe of relief, 'Looks like a file room. I can see some supplies in here that I can pick up before backtracking back into the hallway.' He grabbed the handgun ammo, green herb, machine gun ammo, and lastly the nurses file before taking a deep breath and heading back out into the hallway.
He saw the hospital map on the wall and grabbed a copy that was there in smaller print than the poster before heading towards the double doors before the barricade. Opening it, the first thing that grabbed his attention aside from the darkness of the room was the overwhelming smell of blood. Shining his flashlight around, it appeared the entire room was littered in it from floor to ceiling and the feeling of dread loomed over him as he went in further, especially when seeing the claw marks that looked like scratches on the walls. 'What kind of overgrown animal was here and making these marks? This is a hospital, what could have been large enough to wander these halls and manage to make these marks?' Carlos wondered. There were corpses on the floor, but he was unsure if they were recently dead or undead waiting for a human victim. Carefully, he stepped forward and continued further into the room until he reached a door, only to find it was a locked door. Looking at the sign next to it, it read Staff Room. "Great… now I have to find the keys for this room. Who knows if I will find it in any of the barricade areas."
He grabbed the note on the wall, turned around and left back the way he came, figuring he should investigate the other part of the upper level he was on. Back to the doorway entrance he went to and made his way down the walkway of the garden. He entered the room which looked like a general waiting room, in shambles but still in some form of working order. According to his map, he was in the Nurses Station. There was a loud banging noise coming from the left side of the room, but he couldn't determine if it was from the single or double doors. Nonetheless he made sure his safety was off, just in case it was the undead. He made a mental note of the obnoxiously large safe right there in the wall behind the information counter and walked around it towards a door with a card reader next to it. Heading back around the desk, the door burst open, and a couple of zombies came through, making quick work of them, he finished them off before carefully examining the room they came from. Another zombie was in here, but he also saw an herb on one of the tables between the beds, so he took out the zombie and grabbed the herb, going back to the lobby of the nurse's station.
Back in the hallway he went to his right a barricade with a small opening, too small for him to go through but maybe Jill could when he found the vaccine. He turned around and saw that there was another way with a door, which happened to be locked, however the balcony was not too high up and he was able to see there was something shining in the garden below. Hopping the ledge, he landed safely before hopping over the plant shelf and towards the shining object. Picking it up, he saw that it was a key and reading the tag it happened to be the key to the room that was locked in the bloodied up office. Following the small path, he went through the glass panel that was open, grabbed the ammo and made his way to the door, which he was able to unlock, revealing that he was right back in the hallway that led to the stairwell. 'Cool. Looks like we are finally making some form of progress. Maybe we will get one step closer to the vaccine or Dr. Bard. I just hope Jill is still okay and fighting against whatever the hell got to her.'
Making his way back upstairs he found himself inside the bloodied-up office space, feeling a tad bit more comfortable walking in as none of the corpses on the floor had moved from when he was last in the room. Whatever had killed these people, it did not appear to be a zombie that did the job. He made his way to the locked door and unlocked it to find that he was in a work locker room. Seeing a file on a bench, he read through it learning that a nurse had taken voice recordings of the doctor and kept it with a colleague before all the virus outbreaks had fully broken out. Carlos also made sure to check the lockers for any ammunition, supplies, or clues to opening the locked door in the Nurses' Station only to jump slightly to the corpse stuffed in a locker, 'Whatever the hell happened here, someone was desperate to hide. This guy is long dead.' In the last locker, he finally found the Hospital ID card, assuming it would be able to unlock the electronic lock in the Nurses' Station.
He made his way back through the bloody office space and was about to head through the double doors when a claw slipped through the opening. Taking a few steps back, Carlos found himself to be face to face with what looked like a hairless gorilla with sharp, elongated nails. Not wanting to take any chances, he tossed a grenade at it before unloading a clip into its head, the piercing screech hurting his ears slightly as it writhed in agony on the floor dying. "Jesus Christ," he found himself saying aloud before moving back out into the hallway. Making his way back to the Nurses' Station, he stood before the electronic lock, inserting it in hopes that it would unlock the door. The light changed from red to green and he heard the door unlocked. He could hear the sound of something screeching mixed with banging, slowly moving forward he saw an observation room with not one but two of those hairless gorillas he had just taken out. 'Great,' he thought to himself, knowing he was in for a challenge if he wanted to check out the bodies in the room.
Slowly moving forward, so as to not cause a lot of noise, he made his way past the observation window and around the corner, where a lone door stood. 'Please let this door be unlocked. I really do not want to go through the window and deal with both of those sharp-nailed freaks simultaneously. Jill will find herself in a cold Carlosless world sooner rather than later.' Standing in front of the door, he found it unlocked and inside of a file room of sorts. Quickly grabbing the herb and taking out the zombies in this room, he saw two doors, one of which was obviously the one to the observation room. Inspecting his map, he saw that the second door was right outside of the garden area he leapt into. 'Okay, so if I need to make a hasty exit, I know I can hop over the banister. Here is hoping those things can't jump over otherwise their speed alone will get me killed.'
Heading back into the file room, he carefully opens the door to the observation room and tosses in a grenade. He sees it go off and attack one of the giant gorilla looking monsters. Moving in but holding the door open with his body he tosses a second grenade, this time a flash to blind both monsters that are now coming at him. While they are blinded, he opens fire on the one closest to him, killing it after unloading a full clip to the head. He reloads just as the second one is moving into him. It leaps to swing at him, but he rolls under it and tosses his last flash grenade, causing it to screech in anger at not being able to see. He unloads a second clip into the monster as it falls to the ground, dead. Releasing a breath, he did not realize he was holding, Carlos reloads a third time and wait to see if either gets up before he moves to the body the second was viciously attacking. On the rolling table, there was a cassette tape, he grabs it and makes his way back towards lab reception but not before stopping in the emergency entrance to clear out the undead and headed over to the locked operating room. Entering it, he finds a plethora of supplies and continues back towards the lab area. When he gets back there, he puts the cassette into the tape recorder and plays it for the intercom, which has Dr. Bard's voice on it and unlocks the lab. 'This guy is a complete fucking douchebag…' Carlos finds himself thinking as he opens the doors.
He sees someone sitting in a chair facing away from him and turns them around only to reveal it is Dr. Nathaniel Bard, with a bullet in his head. "Bard." Carlos says calmly and completely disappointed. He radios Tyrell immediately, "Tyrell! Bard's dead. He's been shot." Tyrell responds immediately, "Shit. And the vaccine?" Carlos looks around, "I'm looking."
"Well, look harder! There's gotta be a computer, right?" Carlos closes the line immediately and searches to find the computer which is still on and surprisingly still open. He reads it is an email to Greg Tester, a politician over on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. The heading of the reply immediately causes Carlos to read through it carefully.
'Greg, I know you're watching the news. This virus is going to devour the whole country. The dead will wash over Capitol Hill like a tidal wave. You're not safe. However, you've always been a good friend to me, so I'd like to offer you a way out. I have in my possession ONE dose of a vaccine for the virus. The holy grail! And it's not for my family, not for my ladies on the side. No, Greg, I'm saving it for YOU. I know better than anyone that you're the future of the United States. But if you want the goods, Greg, you have got to get me the hell out of here NOW, without Umbrella finding out. Lean on the Pentagon for me. I know you've got the clout. See if someone can get a rescue team in here without U.B.C.S. involvement. You scratch my back, I scratch yours—which should sound pretty chaste after the parties we've been to. Hurry. My time is running out. –Nate'
Carlos looks at a few more files and finds a video, pressing play he sees Dr. Bard on the screen, "This VRC Chief Nathaniel Bard. September 29, 11 p.m. I am acutely aware that my time's running out. And I hope and pray by making this recording and bringing the truth to light that I can restore some small shred of honor to my name." Carlos focuses on the words of the doctor, hoping to find some shred of information on this vaccine he mentioned in his email. "All of Raccoon City's suffering began with the release of a biological weapon known as the T-Virus. My employer, the Umbrella Corporation, engineered this virus and they ordered my team to develop a vaccine, which we did. Now I keep samples of this vaccine here in my office. The rest of it is stored underground." Carlos notices the doctor look away, almost as if he heard a noise from outside the hospital, after a moment, he continues, "But those sons of bitches on the board… they want to destroy it. They don't want the world to know what they've done, so they're trying to erase all evidence that the virus ever existed." This time Bard pulls away from the camera and clearly is afraid, "Now I'm not a fool. I know they don't want me to—" He goes still. As if someone had been trying to get in and he was aware of it and ended the video immediately.
Carlos stares at the screen in disbelief. He looks over to where Dr. Bard sat and remembered Jill's apprehension to teaming up with him because Umbrella was his employer. The dots were connected, and he finally understood why, "My God, Jill knew all along. And she trusted me anyway." Knowing that he endangered her so badly by having her team up with them he felt anger and rage to which he punched the computer screen, "Fuck!" Hearing the locked lab door to his right unlock he went inside, "Is it here?" Looking in the fridge, he found a single syringe filled with the vaccine. Grabbing it, he made his way back out of the storage, "Alright Jill, hang tight."
Radioing Tyrell again he quickly blurted out, "T, I got it!" His partner replied instantly, "Good. I'm headed your way." Carlos found himself saying "Be careful," to which Tyrell replied, "Careful? Have you seen this town? It'll be a fucking miracle if I get there in one piece." Exiting the lab and entering the reception, Carlos hears breaking glass and another one of those gorilla monsters jumping through. Taking it out, he uses the reception desk as a cover of sorts when the animal gets too close to him which allows him to take out the beast. Quickly but cautiously making his way back to the makeshift safe room he left Jill in. Entering it, he says "You're going to be okay, Jill." As he takes out the sample to give to her.
Pulling her closer to him, he takes out the syringe, removing the top with his mouth and spitting it out quickly before inserting the needle into her upper arm before rolling her back onto her back to rest. He watches for changes as he growls, "Come on… This shit better work." He pulls up a chair next to her bedside and waits, finding himself lull into a sense of relaxation and lulls to sleep a bit. He immediately jumps up and aims his gun at the door when he hears it open but stops from pulling the trigger when he sees it is an out of breath Tyrell, holding his arm up. Upon closer inspection, Carlos sees he is bleeding from a bite on his arm, "Jesus. Tyrell. What the hell happened?" Tyrell doesn't say a word as he puts his gun down and grabs a seat at the stool and uses the remote on the counter, flipping the television on, "Attention all citizens. The contagion spreading throughout the city has been designated uncontainable. On October 1st, Raccoon City will be completely destroyed in a missile strike. All residents capable of rational thought are urged to evacuate immediately. This is not a test." The television continues to repeat the message again.
"Man, that's only a day away. There's still people in the city!" Tyrell tiredly responds, "You think Uncle Sam gives a shit?" They hear banging on the doors outside, Tyrell reacts as he tiredly grabs his gun, "Fuck. Here they come." He starts to get up when Carlos stops him, "Now you sit tight. I got this." He takes one last glance at Jill, who has more color than she did when he administered the vaccine to her and heads out to the hospital lobby to reinforce their door for their safety. Grabbing all the ammo cache cases he can along with barrels and trashcans, he creates a barricade of the door to protect both Jill and Tyrell who are not in any condition to fight. He does hear his friend on the radio, "I'm gonna try to lower the window shutters! The less entry points, the better." Carlos finds himself sarcastically responding to him, "And how do we do that?" "I'll try hacking into the hospital security system. Keep 'em off me in the meantime!"
Seeing the hoards of undead at every entryway, he sees the shutters start to lower on the higher windows, so he knows the system was accessed. Grabbing his gun, he moves quickly to grab the mini bomb in an ammo cache and blurts out, "Okay, now the fun shit begins." Making his way back to the desk, he begins to take out the undead that make their way inside the lobby, trying to get as many head shots as he can while not wasting ammo or allowing them to access the makeshift barricade he has made for the door. He figures that Tyrell bleeding would draw their attention and thus they will go after him if Carlos doesn't react quickly enough. As he takes out a pair of undead to his right, Tyrell radios, "Carlos, they've reached the room." He takes out the ones attacking the barricade and as they go down the power goes out. "Aw, c'mon."
Turning on his flashlight, he gets back to work on taking out the undead when he hears growling and banging on the locked door behind the desk. Suddenly one of the green hairless gorilla monsters breaks through causing Carlos to take a couple of scratches to the arm as he puts it down with two grenades. He continues to clear the room, switching over to his handgun to preserve the ammo he has. "Almost got it," he hears Tyrell say as he notices the shutters are lowering on the lower windows, slowly closing his openings, but not before another one of those monsters jumps through.
Seeing the window shutters close completely he looks over to see the zombies break open the front door and slowly pour through the makeshift barricade he made of the benches. Finding now to be the perfect time to add the detonator to the explosive next to the central pillar, Tyrell suggests the same as he adds it onto the C4 pack. "Carlos, maybe you can knock the pillar down with that explosive." "I'm on it," he replied before taking the flash grenades and tossing them to distract the zombies. He slides behind the desk as the detonator beeps and goes off, the pillar falling and sealing the entrance to the hospital.
"Carlos. You alright?" Tyrell inquires humorously. Carlos responds with his own sarcastic response, "Not even close. But at least it's over. I'm coming back." He opens the doors to see Tyrell sitting in the chair he was sitting in, "Vaccine's the real deal." Carlos looks at Jill and sees her color has completely returned, her lips rosy again and her breathing is even again, "Good," he replies as he reloads his gear and Tyrell looks at him. "You goin' somewhere?" "You damn right." Tyrell asks, "What do you think you're gonna do? The whole city's about to be microwaved." Carlos slowly backs away responding, "C'mon, man. Call the government. Tell them we found a cure. You stall for time." He makes his way out of the room.
The next time he sees Jill, she is in a disposal area of sorts and facing off against the Nemesis all on her own. This is where Carlos finds her after searching for the vaccine that Bard had said was in this lab. Instead, all he has found is information on how to make it as well as super zombies that can only be killed via tossing high powered grenades, otherwise they ate the ammo he had. He is in a control room above the disposal area when he spots her, "Jill, is that you?" She turns around to see him above her in the control room, "You're okay," he responds in the most relieved voice before getting back to business, "Let me spot for you." She replies firmly, "Good idea."
They work together to open various vats of acid to spill on him as he gets shocked each time by the vat's emergency button being shot at. After a few rounds of this, the monster goes down and Carlos calls out to her, "Jill! Here comes the crane, use it to climb up." As he moved the crane towards her, he saw the monster beginning to move again, causing Jill to take aim and attempt to keep him at bay until the crane lowered for her to get on. As it got up to charge her, Carlos swung the crane right into the monster's head shouting, "Jill, stay back!" The monster went flying across the area and fell unconscious again, "Now get on!" Carlos shouted as he waited for her to grab onto the crane. When she did, she raised her arm to signal he could raise the crane up. As that was happening, he saw he could empty the vats out completely, "I'm gonna melt this fucker into mush," he thought out loud. It began covering the creature which writhed in what one could only guess was pain as the acid bath filled with blood. He called out to her, "Okay, I'll meet you up ahead." Leaving the control room and making his way over to her.
He figured out where she was based on the loud explosion that had just happened along with what sounded like Nicholai, "Have you—Have you ever seen anything so incredible? The data on this would be worth millions! But, uh, you know how it is—city's about to explode… And you can't put a price on life. Good luck!" He makes it to the walkway above her and calls out to her, "Jill!" She immediately responds, almost as if giving a command, "Go after Nicholai! He's got the vaccine!" He finds himself panicking as he responds, "What about you?" She desperately responds, "We're running out of time! I've got this!" He finds himself reassured by her words, "I know you do," and he heads off after his former comrade.
'I have to catch this asshole,' Carlos thought to himself. 'This whole time we thought it was random incidents where the unit was being ambushed and attacked but in actuality, Nicholai has been setting us up. He could have been the one that got the captain injured, could have had a connection to showing that freak where Jill has been this whole time… fuck, how many people have died because of him?' "Nicholai!" Carlos shouted as he missed the elevator door closing, Nicholai smirking his usual shit eating grin. Carlos knew if he didn't get to him, then he and Jill would still be in the city when the nuke hit. Keeping his gun up, he waited for the elevator to stop and called it back down, all while staying on the defensive just in case.
When the elevator came back down, he got inside and went up, "Looks like this has only one stop." Once it stopped, he pressed the down button to send it back down to Jill and ran up the stairs, leading to a heliport with a helicopter. Carlos kept his gun up as he moved slowly towards the helicopter and was surprised to see it was fully prepped for launch. 'Nice, the only thing I need is Jill so we can get the fuck out of here.' Carlos heard the sound of boots to ground and slowly moved into a crouch position, taking a quick scan of the area around him. What he was not expecting was the hit to the back of the neck, knocking down. "Ugh," he felt himself say aloud but he knew he was losing consciousness quickly. Falling backwards, he saw Nicholai above him, "Sorry comrade, can't have you playing hero this time," was all he heard before he passed out.
He felt someone touch him which caused his body to come back to reality. 'Jill?' He heard the sound of the person being knocked away from him, the voices groveled to him at first, but he recognized one of them clear as day, Jill. Her scream of no woke him completely, causing him to open his eyes but keep playing knocked out because he felt Nicholai next to him and judging by sounds alone, she was unarmed. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Jill shouted. Nicholai responded, "Don't know. Don't care. My client ordered me to reduce Umbrella to rubble." 'His client? That means he was never on our team to begin with.' Carlos wanted to scream thinking that Mikhail has sung Nicholai's praises on previous ops only for him to betray the man that helped him get the promotion that he originally was supposed to get.
"Ten minutes until missile impact." Was heard in through an announcement throughout the lab.
"Ah. The missile has launched. And that is my cue to leave." Carlos wiggled his fingers slightly, 'Good, I have full mobility still. Have to wait for the opening but I am going to completely kick this fucker's ass. For Mikhail. For Murphy. For T. Hell even for you supercop.' "Good-bye, Miss Valentine. A shame you didn't listen to me when you had the chance." 'Now!' Carlos thought as he got up with lightening speed and knocked Nicholai over. Soon as they both hit the floor, Nicholai went to aim his gun at Carlos, but the cartel training days kicked in as he immediately went to take the gun out of his hands or at least prevent him from shooting.
They got back on their feet and Carlos knew he was not at 100% when he was able to twist Nicholai's wrist to get the gun out of his hands. 'Shit, he has the edge in close quarters combat with me in this state,' Carlos thought. He was proven correct when Nicholai landed his second kick to Carlos' abdominal area followed by a right punch and a third strike to the abdomen and a toss. Carlos felt completely out done when he got back to his feet and Nicholai landed a kick to his face followed by another fist to his face, 'God damn it. I need to close his mobility off.' Carlos decided that taking a couple more shots to lull the other's guard was the answer when he blocked Nicholai's second punch with a fist of his own.
The difference between Carlos' fist and Nicholai's was the fact that Carlos was the unit's boxing champ, winning fights in the unit and outside of their unit through the time he had been there. Murphy had learned about Carlos' mean left hook the hard way in training one day when Carlos knocked out Murphy in a single shot. The rest of the unit found it hilarious and thought it to be a fluke until Murphy came to tell them that there were a few underground fighting clubs in the area they could test Carlos in. Turned out they had a boxing amateur on their hands according to several pros who would watch the underground fights. He also had a good knack of winning their unit good money in those clubs, something he knew Nicholai didn't have an advantage over him on. Power.
Landing a second punch sent the other to stumble over which was the opening Carlos needed to hold him as he saw Jill had aimed her gun at the both of them. "Jill! Shoot him!" he shouted. Her face twisted in fear, "I can't! I'll hit you!" "Do it! You have to! There's no other way!" he shouted back, trying to keep his grip on Nicholai. She opens fired at Nicholai and the bullet hits his shoulder, causing them both to fall over, Nicholai taking the brunt of the bullet impact. Jill ran towards him, checking to see if he was alive. 'Now don't make such a grim face beautiful, the last thing I want you to be is worried about me.' "Hey. I told you I couldn't leave you in a Carlos-less world. That would just be too cruel." She helped him up while he took a second to catch his breath, seeing Nicholai attempt to crawl away, he found himself asking her, "What about him?" She walked towards Nicholai and Carlos headed to the helicopter.
"Why'd you do it?" Jill asked. Carlos did not care what the reasoning was, he knew that the only thing that was for certain was his friends were killed because one person got too damn greedy. Hearing Nicholai's response only confirmed that, "There's a price tag for everything. Even letting the world burn." Carlos turned the chopper on, hearing Jill still trying to get answers out of him, "Who are you working for?" "I'll tell you if you get me out of here. I'll pay you whatever you want." Carlos could hear the panic in Nicholai's voice for the first time since the entire op had begun, the sound of fear he had heard in all his comrades at some point over the last three days. Jill didn't answer him but began to walk away causing him to shout out, "You're a fool. You're a fool! If I die, you'll never find out the truth." Carlos had to resist the urge to laugh at Jill's sarcastic but calm response, "I don't mind a little detective work." She sat down on the edge and Carlos took it as his cue to take off. The last sound they hear from him is his laughter, almost as if he knows something that they don't but Jill is right, it is nothing a little detective work can't fix.
They ride in silence, seeing the missile make its way to the city. As they fly away as fast as the chopper can take them Carlos asks, "Jill, you alright?" She doesn't respond but they both see a missile fly past them, "There it is," she says. Next thing they see is a bright white light and then the infamous mushroom cloud. Then it hits them, the rumbling that knocks them off their flight, the alarms going off like crazy but stopping as soon as they started as he refuses to let their chopper crash. They are stable again, he leans back into his seat, lets out the biggest breath he didn't realize he was holding and looks over to her, "It's finally over." She stays quiet for a minute before saying almost quietly, "So long, RC." Almost as if she knew this was the beginning of another journey that was just beginning. A journey that Carlos knew he wouldn't be able to join her on as he had to settle all the business he had with Umbrella. The time had come for them to go their separate ways.