"You know, if you hadn't dropped that wad of money on me, I'd have been working today," Jill told Rain as she worked her coffee pot. "You may have guessed by the lack of callers that piano lessons don't exactly bring home the bacon, and Irons — the chief — still keeps me on as a cop." She made a disgusted face.
"I'm guessing he has you scrub his toilet," Rain said.
Jill shook her head. "That, actually, would be worse. No, he busted me down to Vice. I have to bust guys wearing that ridiculous shit." She gestured to the crop top and booty shorts that Rain had noticed draped over the arm of her sofa, untouched since she'd arrived. "Not exactly something you can conceal a firearm in," she said darkly.
"Shit," Rain said. "You make your phone calls yet?"
Jill nodded, taking the pot out of the machine and pouring her and Rain a mug. "Yeah. The guy at the PD who monitors the jam cams says he saw a big convoy of unmarked SUVs speeding through town early this morning. They split up and went to addresses I know to be high-level Umbrella employees — researchers, executives, and so forth. Within the hour, they'd collected their quarry and were out of town… minus one SUV. Hit and run, cement truck. He lost the signal shortly after that, which is probably Umbrella hijacking the feed and denying it to the rest of us."
"That SUV was probably the one Angela Ashford was in," Rain said.
Jill had a grim look on her face. "Shit, this is really happening, isn't it? Your time travel shit… Raccoon City being overwhelmed with walking corpses…" She looked down at her mug and poured it down the drain. "Think I'm gonna be sick, so it's best if I have an empty stomach." She took a deep breath to center herself. "Anyway, the other calls I had to make were all out of city, and the bastards must have cut the lines leaving the city, because none of them got through."
"What are we going to do next?" Rain asked.
Jill gave Rain a curious look. "Aren't you the one with all the foreknowledge? What are you asking me for?"
"Well, I've never spent, uh, this much time with you before," Rain said, mind replaying the time they'd spent together last night. "I have an idea of how the next twenty or so hours plays out, but I only know little snippets of what you go through." She frowned. "I know in a few hours you end up at the police station, shoot a number of zombies there the cops are trying to arrest, including one handcuffed next to a man named Lloyd Jefferson Wayne."
Jill groaned. "Oh, that guy. He's a person of interest in Vice for distribution, but we haven't been able to pin anything on him yet…" Jill saw Rain smirk. "Let me guess, more future knowledge shit?"
Rain nodded. "Let's just say you should try showing up in the women's shoe department at Wal-Mart late at night and asking about buying green loafers."
Jill had a consternated look on her face. "Well, that's just great. Well, he gets off scot-free, I guess. What next?"
"I… don't know," Rain confessed. "Hours after sunset, you're traveling with a few other people: Alice, the woman I told you about; Terri Morales, the weatherperson for Raccoon 7; and someone in STARS. A black guy."
"Peyton Wells," Jill said, putting a name to the face. "And then?"
"Next thing I know is you and Terri get separated from Alice, and the two of you show up at the school with LJ shortly before Alice arrives. Peyton… doesn't make it, not that I've noticed. Sorry."
"Shit." Jill frowned. "Do any of the other STARS survive?"
"…I'm afraid not," Rain said. She hadn't revealed to Jill her turn as the Nemesis, irrationally afraid that Jill would hold it against her. "Terri dies at the school — and for the love of God, Jill, if I'm not there, then don't send her off alone with a gun she has no idea how to use. Angela's on the second floor, where you can also find a bunch of zombie kids laying in wait."
"Lovely." Jill looked disgruntled.
"Once we have Angela, it's a straight shot to City Hall Plaza, where Alice fights Addison, we kick Umbrella ass, and get the hell out of Dodge. …Oh, and we've got to make sure the goddamn crowbar in the helicopter gets chucked out before we take off."
Jill leaned against the counter, contemplative. She absentmindedly poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and began sipping away at it, stomach woes forgotten. "Okay. I've got a few things to look into around the city. Why don't you head to Raccoon City Junior School and see if you can grab Angie before it turns into a nightmare? Maybe it can save us some trouble later on in the evening."
Rain nodded. "That sounds doable. Hopefully."
Jill smiled grimly. "If all goes well, let's meet at the RPD an hour before sunset. Sounds good?"
"Sounds good," Rain agreed.
She was startled when Jill abruptly pulled her into a rough kiss. "Keep your sexy ass safe out there, Ocampo," she instructed.
XXX
Rain got off the bus a few blocks down the road from the school. It was so weird seeing the place in daytime, not looking like a warzone. She noticed the RPD K9 van in the parking lot and shuddered, even though the dogs were still in their cages and not all fucked up with infection.
She walked into the school and found the receptionist's office fairly quickly. "Hi, I'm here to pick up Angela Ashford?" she said.
"Oh, the poor dear," the receptionist said. "First she had to leave school this morning because of a family emergency, then she came walking back because the driver her father sent got hit by a car. And can you believe nobody's come to check up on her, or the wreck?" She tut-tutted. "Makes me wonder why I bother paying taxes."
"Yeah…" Rain said noncommittally. "Where's Angela now?"
"Oh, she's in the nurse's office, on the second floor," the receptionist said. "She wanted to go to the assembly — the police were going to show off some of their doggies today — but the K9 handler just drove up, dropped off the dogs, and then a squad car came right by and picked him up! Now what do you suppose that was all about? And leaving those poor dogs alone in this van, in the weather we've been having? Disgraceful, I tell you! I went and opened the back doors, so the poor things could at least get some fresh air."
"You're a real humanitarian," Rain agreed blandly. "So, how do I get to the nurse's office from here?"
The receptionist gave Rain a sympathetic look. "Oh, no, dear! I'm sorry, but only Mr. Ashford or someone he's authorized can pick Angie up, and I don't remember seeing any girl names on the list."
"Well, could you double check?" Rain asked. "My name is Alice… uh, Parks."
"Okay, dear, but unless a wizard snuck in and waved his magic wand at it, I don't expect…" She'd turned her back to go examine the paperwork, which let Rain slip out of the office while the receptionist blathered on and jog to the stairs.
The school's second floor wasn't that big, and Rain quickly found the nurse's office. "I'm here to take Angela," Rain told him; he barely looked up from his computer terminal, where he was typing out some sort of requisition form, long enough to give her a quick dismissive nod.
Angela sat on one of the cots in the back of the room, looking apprehensive, clutching her lunch box tightly. "Did my father send you?" she asked.
"He sure did," Rain said. "I talked to him on the phone and he explained everything." No need to elaborate that that had happened in another timeline. "Now, let's get out of here, and I'll try to get you to him as fast as I can."
Angela got off the cot and followed Rain out into the hall… where the receptionist was waiting, a very cross look on her face. "Now, see here, Miss Parks, I checked the authorized persons list twice, and your name wasn't on it once! Now I come to find you're trying to smuggle her out of here, completely unauthorized! Are you some kind of… of prevert?"
Rain's face soured at the accusation. "I am authorized, actually. Let me show you…" She reached into her knapsack, whipped out a pistol, and practically shoved it into the woman's face. "Here it is. Now get the fuck out of my way!"
"Oh-oh-oh-oh dear!" the woman sputtered, running past Rain, closing and locking the door to the nurse's office.
Rain rolled her eyes, then looked to Angela, who looked even more apprehensive. "You okay?"
Angela nodded. "For now. It's going to be very bad, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Rain confirmed. "But we'll get you out — me and some friends — no problem."
Angela hesitantly smiled — and then, from the staircase ahead, they heard screams, and the growls of dogs.
"Oh shit," Rain groaned. She crouched down. "Piggyback time, Angie. We've gotta move fast." Angela dutifully climbed aboard Rain's shoulders, and Rain pulled her rifle from her knapsack before charging down the stairs.
XXX
The buses had permanently stopped service by the time Rain had fought her way out of the school, and she and Angela were forced to walk for hours to the police station, Rain allowing Angela piggyback privileges when she tired. The streets were filled with a frantic, panicking populace, so even if Rain stole a car, it would have been impossible to drive it anywhere. Thank God actual zombies, for the most part, seemed few and far between.
They made it to the police station and the two of them walked in as the sound of gunshots rang out within. Rain was just in time to witness Jill's shooting spree, and gawked in horror as she turned and casually shot through LJ's handcuffs. "What the hell was that?" she asked, marching up. "You could have fucking killed him!"
Jill's eyes widened in surprise at Rain's sudden appearance, then she took on a petulant scowl. "He's fine, though," she pointed out.
Rain took out her handcuff keys, thankful that LJ's cuffs looked to be the same model Sanitation carried, and removed the severed cuff from his wrist. "That's no damn excuse! That was reckless as hell!"
Jill remembered Rain's admonition about sending Terri off to die alone and realized Rain was right. What the hell had she been thinking? "Mr. Wayne, I am sincerely sorry for my reckless behavior," Jill said.
LJ glanced over at the dead zombie who'd been trying to gnaw on his arm. "Yeah, thanks. I think we're about even, though."
"We're going to try to leave town soon," Rain said. "Wanna come with us?"
"And abandon my Caddy? No thank you!" LJ walked off, presumably to the impound lot behind the station.
Rain and Jill exchanged an aggrieved look. "Boys and their toys," Rain griped.
"Boys and their toys," Jill agreed.
Angela looked agitated. "So boys are always like that?" she asked. The two women couldn't help but laugh.
XXX
Jill, Rain, and Angela followed the evacuation route out of the city. "If you're right — and it looks like you 100% are," Jill murmured, taking a nervous glance at Angela. "Then it doesn't really matter if we go this way or not."
"Yeah," Rain agreed. "But I think it'll help future loops, God help me, if I have a better idea about what everyone goes through tonight. I haven't really had a chance to quiz you about it before, so I figure since I'm with you now, experience is a better teacher than anything else."
Jill nodded, seeing the gates Umbrella had hastily erected in the distance. She shook her head ruefully. "Still can't believe they were able to cordon off the entire city early this morning," she sneered. "If I didn't know any better, it's almost like they planned this outbreak."
Rain snorted. "Knowing what they're capable of? It's fifty-fifty odds either way."
They grew close enough to the gate that they could make out the cops stationed around it, and Jill let out a surprised gasp. "Peyton!" she called out. She jogged forward and nudged a civilian to the side, chiding him to move. "Peyton!" she called again, letting out a sharp whistle to grab his attention.
"Valentine!" the man responded. "Hey, Valentine!" Jill bullied her way through the throngs of refugees and did that I'm-too-cool-to-hug-so-my-handshake-does-it-for-me thing. "Glad you're here, we could use the help." He saw Rain and Angela approach and stand next to Jill. "Friends of yours?"
Before either woman could answer, a man a few feet away started convulsing and collapsed. "He has a weak heart!" his daughter called out.
Rain's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and recognition. "Abby?" The dad looked to be the chop shop guy too, come to think of it.
"Get away from him!" an Umbrella stormtrooper called out. "Everybody stand back!"
"Daddy!" Abby called out.
Rain approached and pulled her away. "You can't help him now!" she said gruffly. Peyton moved forward to help, but before he could help take her away Rain screamed out as she felt dear old daddy sink his teeth into her calf. "Fucking figures!" she shouted through gritted teeth. The zombie pulled Rain down before she could react further, and only Jill's timely intervention (shooting him in the head) saved her from further savaging.
From her position on the ground, she saw the head Umbrella dipshit monitoring the situation. He touched his hand to an earpiece and spoke into it. Probably something like "Time to fucking murder all the civilians", if Rain had to guess.
Jill helped Rain over to a nearby cop car and sat her up while she bandaged her leg. "Why are you still here?" she admonished her friend. "You should've got out while you had the chance."
"These are our people, Jill," he argued.
Jill didn't have a good counter to that. "Peyton, this is Rain Ocampo. Rain, Peyton Wells."
"Delighted," Peyton said, though he didn't exactly look it.
"Charmed," Rain said, with just as much charisma. Yeah, they were gonna be friends.
Abby nervously approached. "M-ma'am, you said my name earlier?"
"Yeah," Rain admitted. "Your dad ran the chop shop, right?"
She nodded, shooting Jill and Peyton a nervous look. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, though."
"Don't really have to worry about that anymore," Peyton muttered. Jill lightly socked him for the somewhat insensitive comment.
Rain frowned. Kids made her uneasy, and she was already looking after one. Yet… "Look, I'm sorry about your dad. Do you want to come with us?"
Abby looked nervously towards the gates. "My uncle should already be outside of town, waiting for me, though…"
Suddenly the gates ground to life, sliding closed, inciting a fresh panic in the crowds. "This is a biohazard quarantine area," Dipshit announced over loudspeaker. "Due to risk of infection, you cannot be allowed to leave the city."
He probably had more to say, but Rain was tired of listening to this asshole talk, so she raised up her rifle and blew his head clean off. "Move!" she ordered, running through the pain of her leg injury as the other Umbrella soldiers opened fire on her general location, which led to them just hosing the crowds down indiscriminately as they fled back into the city.
Rain finally stopped running after turning a street corner and putting a building between her and the fortification. Jill, Peyton, and Abby (who'd scooped Angela up in her arms) were close behind, trailed by none other than Terri Morales.
"Who was that man?" Terri inquired, shoving her camcorder practically into Rain's face. "Why did you just kill him?"
"Gee, I dunno, maybe because he ordered the closing of the gates, condemning thousands of people to die?" Rain said, surly. "You wanna get that goddamn camera out of my face, Terri?"
"You recognize me?" Terri said, a little surprised.
"Yeah, the Raccoon 7 weathergirl," Rain said, lowering her voice a few octaves and half-closing her eyes for Maximum Seductive Effect. "Terri, your forecasts are always blisteringly hot. Chance of humidity: 100%."
"Um… th-thanks," Terri stammered, blushing furiously at the unexpected flirting.
Angela stared at the bite on Rain's leg (Abby having long since set her down). "You've been infected," she said.
"I know, kid," Rain said. "Don't worry about getting out your lunchbox, alright? Think I might try this neat party trick I know."
"Lunchbox?" Peyton asked, confused.
Jill had her hand on her pistol, ready to draw if need be. "You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you, Ocampo?"
"Hey, having a zombie on your side in a city full of 'em is a pretty solid plan, I think," Rain pointed out.
"I'm sorry, are you honestly talking about turning into one of those… those things? Willingly?" Terri asked, horrified.
"She… she can do it," Jill confirmed. "Probably," she added in a low voice.
"How the hell can you know something like that?" Peyton challenged. "Those things are all mindless killers!"
"You wanna tell them, or should I?" Rain asked.
Jill sighed. Believing it was one thing; telling it to a close friend and a member of the fucking press was another. "Rain… is stuck in some kind of time loop. Yes, similar to Groundhog Day, I know you're all thinking it."
"I was thinking of U-Formation Troopers episode 22," Angela lightly protested. "They break free from the time loop using the power of true love."
Rain gave Angela a half smile as she tousled her hair. "Been there, done that, kid, but it sure as hell didn't work." She looked back up and saw Jill giving her a hard look. "Hold on, assholes," she said to Peyton and Terri, gently taking Jill's arm and leading her a few feet away. "What's up?"
Jill swallowed. "You should know that… that whatever's going on between us… is not going to continue if you become a zombie. Even if you're still… you."
Rain gave Jill a sly look. "Hey, relax," she said. "Latex is your friend, especially in cases like these."
Jill scowled. "No, not in cases like these. There are no 'cases like these'. Risk of T-virus infection or not, I am not going to fuck a corpse."
Rain grew somber. "Valentine, I've died so many goddamn times I may as well be a corpse already." She grabbed Jill's hand and kissed her knuckles. "But okay, I get it. Maybe next time around, huh?"
Jill grunted, unable to meet Rain's gaze. "Yeah, maybe."
XXXXXXXXXX
Fun bit of trivia: I was watching the gate scene for research, and when Jill sees Peyton she really does shove someone to the side for no reason. It wasn't even a crowded area! Like, Jill, you couldn't just walk around him for half a second?
The teenage girl and her dead dad are just random survivors, but it's fun to retcon them as established characters!
I will never ever pass up an opportunity to reference U-Formation Troopers.