Chapter 22
Jill wanted to run right up to the command post, but something held her back. She stood in the center of the front lawn, floodlights shining across the area, and looked around apprehensively. She expected to see soldiers standing on guard, but there didn’t seem to be anyone at all. She raised her assault rifle and cautiously walked forward toward the main building, which was normally a gift shop and visitor’s center. On the front porch were several vending machines with soda and snacks, as well as a line of gumball machines and other novelty dispensers. Jill walked up the steps to the porch and approached the door.
It occurred to her that the command post might be empty, the soldiers having already left, but from around the side of the building she saw a black helicopter parked in the rear yard, and she doubted they would have left it behind.
She tried the doorknob and it turned easily. She shouldered the rifle and drew a pistol instead, since the rifle would be too unwieldy indoors. The main room was brightly lit, with a rack of brochures and maps against the wall, as well as a few more vending machines and a clerk’s desk. Jill crept inside, listening for any noise, but the place seemed to be silent.
Was it possible that the soldiers were dead? Jill wondered if something got inside the building and killed them. She knew very well that there were other creatures on the loose than just zombies. What if something killed the soldiers? Jill had unknowingly placed so much hope on rescue if she made it to the command post, that she felt suddenly helpless.
She walked into the main gift shop, which was lined with shelves loaded with trinkets and other souvenirs, collectible pins, magnets, toys, and postcards. One wall was lined with shelves of t-shirts. Jill stood up and looked across the tops of the shelves, not seeing any zombies or anything else. At the back of the shop there were large windows which looked out toward the rear yard, where the helicopter was parked.
As she went to the back of the shop, she heard a muffled voice. She followed the sound to a door with “Employees Only” written on it. It led back into the supply rooms and the employee’s office.
Jill knelt by the door and listened closely.
“... I know ... what we agreed on ...”
It was a deep voice, with a harsh accent. With a start, Jill realized it was none other than Nicholai, the UBCF Commander. But how in the world could Nicholai be here? She thought he died in the streetcar crash.
“... a few hours ... will be nothing left ... not to worry about it ...”
There was no other voice, just Nicholai’s, so Jill guessed he was on the phone or the radio with someone, probably one of his supervisors with Umbrella. Jill felt strange eavesdropping on him, since they were supposedly on the same side, but something in his tone made her pause and listen closer.
“... ran into it not too long ago ... one of the survivors is a police officer ... killed all my men, and nearly killed me ... yes, of course ... she must be dead ...”
Jill’s mind raced. What in the hell was Nicholai talking about? He must be talking about her, but who was he talking to?
“... a little while ... going to destroy the entire city ... be long gone by then ...”
Jill opened her eyes wide and her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t believe her ears. Umbrella was going to destroy the city!
From somewhere outside, there was the sound of gunfire. It came from somewhere not too far away, but Jill couldn’t tell what direction. She paused as the rumble of gunfire continued for a few seconds and then stopped. It must have been Carlos, and she worried what he was shooting at.
At the sound of shooting, Nicholai’s voice stopped for a moment, and Jill heard, “... someone shooting outside ... yes, of course ... talk to you when I’m finished here ... goodbye, Mister ...” Jill didn’t quite catch the name of the person he was talking to.
She backed up nervously, raising her pistol. She heard a thump like the sound of someone sliding a chair into a desk, and then some heavy footsteps.
The door opened and Nicholai took one step out of the back office before he froze in surprise, an assault rifle loosely carried in one hand. He stared at Jill in disbelief, and started to lift the rifle.
“Don’t move!” Jill shouted, aiming her pistol right at his head.
“What do you think you are doing?” Nicholai asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Who were you talking to in there?”
“I was on the phone with my superiors,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “I was giving them a status update. Now, would you put down your –”
“Shut up!” Jill shouted. She braced herself, holding the gun steady, and lowered her voice. “I heard you talking about me. Now, who were you talking to?”
“Someone from Umbrella. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter! You said that the city is going to be destroyed!”
“Of course,” Nicholai said with a casual shrug, looking away from Jill for a moment. The assault rifle dangled in his hand, and Jill caught his other hand slowly moving toward his back pocket.
“I said don’t move, god damn it!”
Jill lifted the gun and fired a single shot into the ceiling. One of the fluorescent lights exploded in a burst of tiny glass shards, and Nicholai hunched down, raising his hands in self-defense. He dropped the rifle to the floor and glared angrily at Jill.
“Okay! I am not moving!”
“How are they going to destroy the city?” Jill demanded.
“How do you think?” Nicholai spat. “They will strike with a nuclear weapon. It is only a few hours from now.”
“How can they do that?! Why? Why bomb the whole city?”
“The city is already lost,” Nicholai said darkly, staring at her. “You know this. To make sure the disease does not spread, they must wipe your city off the face of the earth. It is the only way to make sure.”
“And what about the other survivors?”
“What other survivors?” Nicholai said mockingly. “There are no more. Everyone in this city is dead by now. And if they are not, then they will be soon.”
Jill clenched her teeth and tensed her finger on the trigger.
“You bastard ...” she whispered.
Nicholai chuckled, a cruel and twisted sound. “Are you going to shoot me? You are a police officer, yes? You would not kill me in cold blood. Or would you?”
Jill swallowed hard and took a deep breath, keeping the gun aimed firmly at Nicholai’s chest. “I’ll shoot you if I have to,” she said evenly. “Because quite frankly, I don’t trust you at all. I didn’t trust you the first moment I saw you.”
“Then what are you going to do? Point your gun at me all night, until they drop their bombs and kill us all?”
“We’re going to that helicopter out there, and you’re going to fly us out of here.”
“Us?” Nicholai said. “I only see one of you.”
“Carlos is here in the park with me, but we got separated. We have to pick him up before we leave.”
Nicholai smiled again. “Ah, the little Mexican boy? I’m surprised you both survived the crash.” His smile turned dark again, turning into a fierce grimace, and he slowly shook his head, baring his teeth like a caged tiger. “But no. I do not think I am going to fly you anywhere.”
“Are you trying to bluff me? Go ahead and try.”
“You are not going to shoot me. You would have already. And you are in no position to give me orders, police woman. You are in over your head,” he growled. “And you are not going to get in my way.”
“Whose side are you on, Nicholai?” Jill asked.
“As always, I am on my own side.”
There was motion at the edge of Jill’s vision, and she spun to the side to see a zombie bang up against one of the rear windows, smacking against the glass with bloody hands. Jill panicked and squeezed the trigger, and the window shattered, the zombie staggering backwards. Even as she opened fire, she
caught Nicholai whipping a pistol from his hip holster and bringing it up toward her.
Jill jumped to the side and dove behind one of the shelves as Nicholai opened fire, the pistol booming in his hands. Wood and glass shattered, showering Jill in splintered fragments as she ducked down. She rolled onto her side and pulled the trigger, blasting through the bottom of the shelf, blindly shooting in Nicholai’s direction. They traded gunfire for what seemed like minutes, but it probably only lasted for a few seconds at most.
Jill scrambled along the floor, tossing aside the empty pistol and letting the rifle slip down off her shoulder into her hand. She slid across the floor, crawling behind another line of shelves packed with cheap trinkets, and the sound of an assault rifle tore through the air. All around her, shelves exploded in a burst of wood shards and bits of plastic. Racks of framed photos, stuffed raccoon dolls, and other gifts blew apart in a rain of bullets.
Jill pressed her back into the wall and raised her own rifle, pressing the stock firmly against the wall under her arm. She squeezed the trigger and the gun came to life, blasting out a deafening barrage of gunfire with a bright muzzle flash. The shelf directly in front of her disintegrated as if it was made of sand, the bullets tearing the wood to pieces at such close range.
Her finger popped off the trigger and she was left gasping for breath, her arms shaking in a rush of adrenalin. She heard a crash and then a door slam, and managed a peek around the edge of the riddled shelf to see that there was no one standing at the other end of the room.
She dared to stand up, and through a window she saw Nicholai outside, running toward the helicopter.
“Oh, no you don’t, you son of a bitch,” she muttered, running after him. She ran to the door and reached it just as Nicholai made it to the chopper. As he grabbed the side door to climb into the cockpit, Jill raised her gun to her shoulder.
She opened fire and the front cockpit windows blew apart. Nicholai jumped to the ground and scrambled behind the helicopter as Jill riddled the cockpit, the gun pounding into her shoulder relentlessly. Within a few seconds, the clip was empty, and she groaned in pain as she lowered the gun, ejecting the clip and reaching into her bag for another one. She ducked back into the gift shop, taking cover as she slammed a new clip into the gun.
“Not very smart!” she heard Nicholai shout from outside. “This is the only helicopter! How are you going to get out of the city now?”
“I don’t care!” Jill shouted. “But you can’t get away either!”
She flinched as Nicholai opened fire, his bullets striking harmlessly around the checkout line, where he must have assumed Jill was hiding. The cash register blew apart and fell to the floor, spilling coins.
Jill peeked out the window and saw Nicholai pull his arm back to throw something. She bolted away from the door and ran into the back office as a grenade crashed through one of the windows and clattered to the ground right in the middle of the shop.
The explosion blew the room to smithereens, and the concussion knocked Jill to the floor, where she slid into the wall, covering her head with her hands. Tiny splinters of wood became a wave of shrapnel, and a blast of debris and smoke blew through the open door. The entire building rattled with the force of the blast, and the lights flickered uncertainly.
Jill crawled to her feet and stumbled back into the gift shop, her head ringing. She shouldered the rifle and waded through the wreckage, waving smoke away from her face. She made it to the back door and looked outside.
Nicholai was far away already, running across the field beyond the command post, almost out of sight. Jill pushed the door open and started running after him, tempted to use the scope on the rifle to take aim and shoot him from a distance.
But she didn’t think Nicholai was the kind of person to run off in a blind panic. Whatever his motivations, he wasn’t just running into the woods because he was scared, and especially not because of Jill. He must have some purpose in mind. And the only possibility Jill could think of was that he knew of another way out of the city.
So Jill chose not to shoot him. Instead, she followed him.
She ran outside, keeping Nicholai in sight until he disappeared into the trees. Jill knew the park enough to know where he was headed; the trails and paths in this area of the park all led to the scenic rocky area in the back. She knew there was no real exit that way, but there were several large entrance pipes to the sewer, which were locked to the public, but she didn’t think that would stop Nicholai.
As she reached the trees, the command post far behind her, a sound echoed across the open field, a sound Jill knew very well by now. The creature in the trenchcoat was after her again.