Chapter 40
Jill stood up and slid the Desert Eagle Carlos gave her into her pants pocket. Her legs still felt kind of sore, but at least she wasn’t starving and thirsty anymore. As the Umbrella troops walked over to the door, she followed them casually, crossing her arms.
Outside, a large black military helicopter sat in the middle of the street, the rotors slowing to a gradual stop. The pilot’s door opened and a tall man dressed in fatigues stepped out of the vehicle. He was stocky and mean-looking, with a short hair cut and a scowl written across his gruff face. He strode over to the streetcar station, barely even glancing around to acknowledge his surroundings.
Jill watched from a window as Mikhail opened the doors and stepped outside, giving the man a short, half-hearted salute. “Commander, it is good to see you.”
Nicholai walked up to him. “Give it a rest, Captain.”
Mikhail’s arm dropped. “Yes, sir.”
“How many men are here?”
“Eleven.”
“Only that many?”
“Yes. Plus one civilian.”
The Commander seemed surprised. “A civilian? Interesting.”
“She just arrived a little while ago.”
Nicholai walked into the building, Mikhail following behind him. All the other soldiers made room for him, although none of them asked the questions that they surely had on their minds. Jill stayed out of their way, watching as he looked them over with a harsh glare. Right away, Jill disliked him.
Hunk showed up at the side door, having climbed down from the roof again, and walked inside, carrying his assault rifle in one hand. “Commander,” he said. “Welcome back. What’s happening at headquarters?”
Nicholai looked at Hunk. “Our superiors do not believe that we can succeed in our mission,” he said.
“So what are our orders?”
“We are evacuating.”
Relief washed over the faces of the soldiers, some of them breaking out in smiles at the good news. Jill didn’t smile at the news, though. Beside her, she heard Carlos mutter, “Gracias a Dios.”
Hunk kept his expression neutral as well, as if he was suspicious of what Nicholai told him. “The helicopter won’t carry all of us,” he said. “Are we making two trips?”
Nicholai looked over his shoulder at the helicopter. “No, I am afraid not. There is not enough fuel left. We will use these vehicles to travel to the city park,” he said, motioning to the streetcars.
The soldiers waited expectantly, and finally Hunk snapped, “You heard the Commander. Get the trolley started. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
The troops jumped up and ran over to the streetcars, going inside to start the engine on the first car. The other three cars would be pulled behind it like a train. They took up positions to keep guard, making sure there were no zombies sneaking up on them, while some other soldiers grabbed whatever food and drinks were left from the vending machines to take with them. Jill let the soldiers do their job, watching Hunk and Nicholai carefully.
Hunk stepped closer to Nicholai and said something that she couldn’t hear, which Nicholai responded to in a hushed tone. Both of them turned their back, facing the streetcar, so Jill couldn’t even try to read their lips. Hunk gestured with his hands, agitated by something, and Nicholai merely shook his head.
Jill casually walked in their direction, and Mikhail cut her off, putting a hand on her arm. “Commander,” he said, “this is the survivor we found.”
Nicholai turned around and looked briefly at her, not really caring. “It is good to see another survivor,” he said insincerely. “You must have had a hard day. Well, I can promise that it is almost over.”
“Why are we going to the park?” Jill asked.
“Our central command post is located there. There are helicopters we can use to leave the city.”
“And you’re all just abandoning the city like this?”
“Of course,” Nicholai said. “You do not expect us to remain here, do you?”
“Actually, yes I do,” Jill said.
Mikhail spoke up, glancing sideways at Jill. “She suspects that Umbrella maybe partially responsible for this incident,” he explained. “She says we should stay here and try to save as many civilians as possible.”
“Well, she is not in charge,” Nicholai sneered. “I am, and we are not staying here any longer. We cannot hope to fight the infected ones. There are too many.”
Jill brushed off Mikhail’s hand on her arm. “I know that they did this,” she said forcefully. “Umbrella might be able to justify leaving the city if they were honestly trying to help, but they caused the infection in the first place. If you leave the city to be overrun, you’re just abandoning your responsibility.”
“The city already is overrun,” Hunk snapped. “Or haven’t you noticed? And besides, you have no evidence that Umbrella is responsible for this.”
“I know about the lab in the mountains,” Jill snapped back. “I know about the outbreak there. I know about everything.”
Hunk’s eyes popped wide open in surprise, and Mikhail actually stepped back in disbelief, staring at her. Nicholai was the only one to not openly reveal his surprise, but his eyes flickered for just a moment, giving it away. He tilted his head down and looked at Jill, inspecting her as if he recognized her but he couldn’t figure out where he had seen her before. Jill glared back, daring him to deny it.
“And just how do you know about that?” he asked carefully.
“Because I was at that lab a few nights ago. I was one of the cops that got sent there to help clean up your mess.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Hunk said, looking away. He took one glance at Jill and then turned and stalked away from them.
“That is a very interesting coincidence,” Nicholai said, his voice flat. Jill met his gaze and saw something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite place. It seemed as if there was a bit of fear in his eyes, but he had no cause to be afraid of her. Jill got the distinct feeling that Nicholai knew something about her, although she had no idea what.
“Sir!” one of the soldiers called. “The streetcar is ready!”
Nicholai broke off their staring contest and began to walk over to the streetcar. “Everyone get on board so we can leave,” he ordered.
Before Jill could even follow him, a loud noise came from outside the station. It froze Jill’s blood, and she instinctively drew her pistol and spun around, facing the front doors. It was a scream, but not any scream that a human being could make. There was no motion through the windows, and Jill knew that her gun was useless anyway, but that scream was incredibly close.
Sensing her fear, Mikhail drew a gun as well. “What the hell was that?”
“It’s a monster,” Jill said. “I’ve fought it before. It’s not a zombie, it’s something else. How did it get here already? It was miles away last time I saw it.”
“Come on!” Nicholai bellowed.
Mikhail grabbed Jill’s arm again and dragged her away. They both ran onto the last streetcar just as it started to move forward. Jill watched fearfully out the back windows, expecting the creature to show up any second. The last car carried two other soldiers, who held their assault rifles intently, and Nicholai, who looked out the windows as the streetcar began to pick up speed.
“What made that sound?” he asked, a gun in his hand as well. “That was not a person yelling.”
“It’s a monster,” Jill said again. “I don’t know what it is, but it came after me before. It’s not a zombie, it’s something new. I couldn’t kill it, no matter what I tried.”
Mikhail suddenly pointed out the back window. “There it is,” he said.
Standing fifty yards away from the escaping streetcar, the creature stood right along the tracks, the edge of its black trenchcoat flapping in the breeze. It hunched over and screamed again, the hideous roar sounding as if it was standing right beside them. It
jumped forward and began to run after the streetcar as it traveled along the tracks.
Nicholai ran to the other end of the car and opened up the narrow doorway that connected it to the next car. The streetcars were not connected with an open doorway like a train, because passengers were not supposed to walk from one car to another. In order to get to the next car, Nicholai had to step over the large metal clamp that connected the two cars, balancing carefully on the bumpers of the two adjacent cars.
“Where are you going?” one of the soldiers asked.
“I have to tell them to speed up,” Nicholai said, jumping into the third car.
The two soldiers, whose names Jill didn’t know, ran to the back of the car and aimed their guns out the back window.
“What are you waiting for?” Jill asked desperately. “Shoot it!”
“We do not have very much ammunition,” Mikhail said. “We cannot waste it. And I do not think it can catch up to us now.”
The creature bounded forward, its huge strides making it appear as if it was running on the moon. Its twisted face was stuck in a horrific grimace, its long teeth clenched, strings of saliva streaming from its mouth. Its arms pumped back and forth like pistons as it ran.
“It’s gaining on us,” Jill said, backing away. She took one last look at the creature and bolted for the other end of the car. The streetcar was going thirty miles an hour at least, and the monster was somehow catching up to them.
“Open fire!” Mikhail shouted, and the soldiers’ guns lit up, flashes bursting from the barrels. The creature outside seemed to shiver with the impacts, but it didn’t slow down at all. Bullets smacked into its torso, opening tiny holes in its trenchcoat, but it barely seemed to notice. More bullets missed their mark and sparked against the tracks or kicked up puffs of dirt on the ground under its feet. It ran right through the gunfire like the bullets were no more bothersome than a swarm of flies.
The creature roared again and leaped into the air, sailing upward and directly at the streetcar. Mikhail and the soldiers jumped back in shock as the creature soared up over the streetcar and landed above them, the roof partially caving in with its weight. The entire car rattled with the impact, and one of the soldiers fell onto his back, opening fire into the ceiling.
There was another hideous scream, and a massive fist punched down through the roof, tearing away the thin sheet of metal. The creature ripped off a chunk of the roof and hurled it away. The soldiers held onto their triggers in utter desperation, and the constant blast of gunfire in the small area practically deafened them.
Jill turned once more before climbing through the doorway to the third car. The soldiers there held their guns expectantly, but none of them were willing to go to the fourth car. The wind whipped Jill’s hair across her face, and she glanced down as the rocky ground underneath the streetcar flew by underneath her feet. If she lost her footing, she would be crushed under the streetcar’s wheels.
They sped through a business district, the streetcar increasing its speed up to at least forty miles an hour, zooming past abandoned cars and more wreckage. Jill made it to the third car and the soldiers pulled her inside, and she immediately kept going toward the second car.
Mikhail ordered the two soldiers back, as the creature fell down through the jagged hole in the ceiling, turning to the side and shielding its face with its arms. Its body rippled as a torrent of bullets perforated it, but the creature merely shrugged them off. The first soldier’s gun clicked empty, and he frantically tried to load a new clip.
The creature jumped forward in a blur and slammed its thick arm into the soldier, smashing him sideways. The soldier crashed through the window, his body broken and limp, and sailed out of the streetcar. Before they could react, the creature grabbed the other soldier by the neck and swung him around, smashing him into the inside of the car, shaking his body like a dog shaking a chew toy in its mouth. The soldier’s gun went flying away.
More gunshots blasted into its huge body, as the soldiers in the third car opened fire. The windows in between the two cars shattered, glass flying everywhere. Mikhail ducked down in front of the seats as bullets flew over his head.
The creature just roared angrily and hurled the dead body forward. It crashed through the doorway and into the soldiers. Mikhail jumped up and ran for it, but the creature grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. Mikhail screamed as the creature’s fingers dug into his shoulder like the teeth of a bear trap, lifting him into the air. The soldiers didn’t dare open fire because Mikhail was now directly in their way.
Holding him up with one arm, the creature lifted its other arm, and from the ripped folds of the sleeve of its coat, a writhing tentacle emerged. Mikhail screamed and swung his arm up, a combat knife held in his hand. He stabbed the knife directly into the tentacle, pinning it to the creature’s arm. Whitish fluid squirted from the tentacle as it spasmed, impaled by the knife.
The creature bellowed furiously and tossed him backward. As he crumpled to the floor, the soldiers opened fire once more, another volley of gunfire striking the creature’s body. It roared and tossed the combat knife away, its inhuman face twisted into a horrendous mask of rage. Mikhail managed to crawl forward, one of his arms now dangling limply at his side. His face was covered in a sheen of sweat, his teeth clenched against the excruciating pain.
Suddenly, the entire streetcar rocked forward and to the side, throwing everyone to the floor, even the creature. A line of cars were parked right across the tracks, and the streetcar just plowed through them at full speed. The cars were smashed out of the way, but the entire streetcar rocked with the tremendous impact.
Jill fell forward and smacked her head on the floor. The gun in her hand went skittering under some of the seats as she got onto her hands and knees, her head spinning. She felt someone hold her shoulder and try to pick her up. It was the soldier named Carlos. He knelt over her and helped her to her feet.
“Come on,” he said urgently. “Let’s go to the front.”
Mikhail got to his feet, grabbing one of the poles for support with his good arm, and staggered through the doorway to the third car. As he stepped over the clamp that held the cars together, he kicked down on the lever that disengaged the clamp. There was a loud blast of air and the two cars separated.
The soldiers pulled Mikhail across as the fourth car began to pull away from them, no longer being pulled with the rest. The creature inside roared furiously and ran to the front of the car. It smashed right through the doorway and sailed into the air, jumping across the open space between the cars. The soldiers opened fire again as the creature landed right on the back end of the third car. It smashed its fist through the doorway and knocked some of the soldiers out of the way.
Jill and Carlos made it to the second car and Jill turned back around, watching in horror as the creature just smashed his way into the other car and battered the soldiers effortlessly out of its way. All of the soldiers on the third car were killed in a matter of moments, as the creature lashed out in the cramped area, killing them with brutal punches of its massive arms, as the soldiers had nowhere to hide. It grabbed them and threw them out the windows of the speeding streetcar, or simply beat them to death. In a few seconds it was all over.
The only soldier that remained was Mikhail, who crawled along the floor. Jill and Carlos watched helplessly from the second car as the creature strode forward and stepped over his body.
Mikhail rolled over onto his back and stared up at the creature as it loomed over him, a line of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He opened his hands as if finishing a prayer. One hand held a grenade. The other hand held the pin.
Mikhail chuckled softly, blood on his lips. “Dosvidaniya, ty sukin syn,” he whispered.
Carlos grabbed Jill and pulled her to the floor as the grenade went off. The explosion tore apart the entire car, ripping the walls in half and blowing the roof off. The creature flew backward
and smashed through the demolished side wall, tumbling through the air and crashing to the ground in a heap. It rolled across the ground like a broken and shattered doll, its limbs flailing limply as it tumbled to a halt.
The doorway between the two cars was blown to pieces, showering Jill and Carlos with debris and broken glass. Jill’s ears rung with the deafening sound, the shockwave knocking the wind out of her. She gasped for breath and tried to get to her feet.
“Come on,” Carlos said, pulling her up. She glanced back at the third car and shook her head sadly. All that was left was the basic frame and most of the floor. Sparks shot out from underneath, and they heard the sound of squealing metal. The explosion blew out the floor and something was jammed in the wheels.
Jill and Carlos stumbled to the other side of the second car, and Jill looked outside. The streetcar track swerved to the left up ahead, and Jill could see that there were more cars blocking the tracks. But not just one or two cars, there were a dozen of them parked all across the street, an impenetrable barrier. Even going as fast as they were, they could not hope to smash their way through.
“We’re going to crash!” Jill cried out.
“Commander!” Carlos shouted. “Look out!”
Nicholai and the other remaining soldiers tried to stop the streetcar, but they were going too fast, and the brake was applied far too late.
Carlos grabbed Jill once more and together they crouched down on the floor. Jill pulled herself completely under one of the seats, hoping to shield herself from debris, and Carlos followed suit. Jill closed her eyes and prayed.
The streetcar slammed into the vehicles blocking the tracks at almost fifty miles an hour. It punched through the first two rows of vehicles, but the streetcar tilted sideways and broke free of the tracks. It tipped over and smashed through more cars and trucks, the ear-splitting roar of the collision sending sheets of twisted metal flying in all directions.
The three connected cars broke loose of each other almost as soon as they derailed, the first car continuing through the traffic jam, knocking a row of cars aside and crushing them underneath, sending a wave of metal and wreckage in front of it, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. The third car, which was already destroyed from the explosion, ripped free of the tracks and swung sideways, slicing through a brick wall and into a convenience store on the corner.
The second car, where Carlos and Jill were, spun in the other direction and tipped over, rolling down a slight embankment before crashing right into the side of a building near the tracks. The streetcar smashed right through the building’s outer wall, sending a blast of smoke and bricks flying. It teetered onto its roof before crashing back down on its side among a choking cloud of dust and debris, half of the car lying inside the building and half outside. It tipped back and forth before finally coming to a complete stop. The dust and smoke began to settle.
Just beyond the range of the catastrophic collision and derailed streetcars, an enormous mob of zombies began to lurch forward. The zombies filled the street, over a thousand of them, and after watching the crash, they all moved slowly forward to investigate.
A note from the author
Resident Evil Legends
Part One: Welcome to the Umbrella Corporation
Part Two: The Arklay Outbreak
Part Three: The Mansion Incident
Part Four: Calm Before the Storm
Part Five: City of the Dead
Part Six: Escape from Raccoon City - COMING SOON
Part Seven: Aftermath - COMING SOON
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