Resident Evil - Escaped End (NB)

[B]

When Meryl had finished putting on her tank top, Jake called out to her. She turned back and nodded. She was considering putting the arm piece back on but decided against it, it wont do much, now. She ripped off the other leg armor with much more ease than the other. The only thing left of the sun was a hint of red in the distance now, over them it rather dark. She walked over to the passenger side and tried the door, it was locked. Meryl knocked on the window with an impatient smile until Jake had opened it for her, then she entered the cab and closed the door.
"Just drive, try to find a road but don't go back the other way."
She told him and leaned her head against the seat. The vehicle was rather loud but it seemed more durable than the first impression presented. Despite being off road for quite a few minutes, the ride was smooth. The lights in front of the vehicle presented a road, it looked a similar road to that they were following. Meryl wanted to sleep but she didn't want Jake to be the only one awake, he may miss something and they'll end up someone's dinner. Meryl smiled at the thought of being eaten while asleep. She glanced over at Jake then out her window, it was dark. Suddenly the cab started to shake slightly.
"Wait..."
Meryl said in an odd tone.
"Do you feel that?"
It was silent for a few seconds, the shaking continued. Curiously, Meryl looked through the rear view window and her eyes shot open.
"Jake... Drive! Drive faster!"
Meryl couldn't explain it, it was like an earthquake was chasing them, the road was literally raising and breaking, the width of it was bigger than the two-lane street, it could probably cover four lanes.
"Faster!"
She urged, things suddenly got complicated.

[D]

Jake reached over to unlock her door and soon enough he heard her familiar voice ordering him again. "Right rihght. I'll drive." He waved his hand and yawned before driving off. Surprisingly the truck worked well off road and it worked so well that it wasn't too bumpy. But that wasn't the only thing that surprised him. What surprised him was that the lights and everything as a whole actually worked. It was something amazing to him.

Maybe it wasn't anything extravagent like he drove before, but hell if it worked it was the best. He remembered that back in the day, his mother seemed to shower him in presents. It was as if she was trying to cover the fact that she didn't seem to care for him as much as Matt, or so he thought. When they were little, his thoughts were 'so what if I get the red truck, he gets to hang with mom.'

The thoughts caused Jake to hold the steering wheel tighter. While being a bit angry, he almost missed Meryl's words, but when she started to yell at him, he couldn't help but floor the gas pedal. Faster than you could say soon, the auto was speeding on the road away from whatever the hell was chasing him. Through the rear view mirror all he saw was the ground breaking. "I can't go any faster! God damnit!"

[B]

The car began to speed up, unfortunately, the car didn't pass the speed exam that Meryl had hoped for.
"Fuck, Jake!"
She shouted at him when he cursed about the speed. She wasn't meaning to take it out on him but it was unlikely that Jake would get too butthurt. Meryl unbuckled herself and climbed to the back seat. She looked at the truck bed in the back, the back piece was open, if she slid she's go sliding straight off the vehicle. She shook her head and slid open the back window and climbed through onto the bed and pulled out her pistol, what good would that do? Better good than letting whatever it was get them without a fight. She aimed her gun at the ground.
"But it'd be better if I knew what exactly is chasing us."
She growled to herself. The pursuing ground was getting closer and closer, the vehicle shook hard though it was hard to tell if it was from the fissure or from the instability of the vehicle. Suddenly when it was close, the beast showed itself. If Meryl was any normal person before the world going to hell, she would've shit her pants. A giant hole was beset before her, a hole with sharp, jagged teeth aligned to a spiral where a smaller feeding hole sat. The worm was the size of three, maybe four trains, its overall length was unknown.
"Holy... SHIT!!"
She shouted and looked for a weak spot, there was none she could see, no eyes, but maybe. She fired and the bullet hit the feeding hole. A large gasp came from the beast and it retracted itself a little, buying more distance from the truck and the worm. Up ahead there was a road block with a pile up of four vehicles. At the left there was a barn just wide enough for the truck to drive through if the driver is careful. At the end of the barn was a wooden ramp, probably used to shield something from the rain.

[D]

He cotninued to drive as he watched her climb out of the window. "Careful." Jake said as he looked at the rear view mirror and switched back to the road. The auto seemed to be shaking almost violently thanks to whatever it was was chasing them, but when it finally showed up in his rear view mirror, all Jake could mutter was, "Fuck."

But of course Meryl had a better response. Her response was louder and lasted two words. Had Jake still been the teenage boy from years before then he would have said something like 'We're going to die' but of course the age and time was different. Of course he was going to die. Maybe from that thing or maybe not from that thing, but whatever the hell it was, he wanted to get away.

As he pushed the truck to its limit, he found himself quickly approaching a road block. A very very inconvenient road block. His eyes quickly darted back and forth looking for a way around it and luckily for him, he quickly found one. Without much thought, he turned the wheel and sent the truck heading for the opening to the barn. The truck seemed to clear the barn easily, but when he neared the end his eyes looked up to the rear view mirrow. "Meryl! Hold on!" He yelled and the truck was in the air.

[B]

Meryl continued to wait for the monster to show its mouth again, she didn't want to waste the bullets she had on the ground. Suddenly things got dark, they were in a barn, she looked back to the cab for an answer and it came.
"Meryl! Hold on!"
She didn't know why he said that but she wasn't going to find out the hard way. She clinged to the side of the truck and things went quiet and smooth for a second Then it quickly came to the opposite, loud and bumpy, Meryl fought to hold on and succeeded in not falling and getting eaten by that thing. Jake had two choices now, take a path through a small forest or go back to the road. The barn behind them began to strip to pieces as its foundation was completely obliterated by the worm. Once again the giant mouth leaped from the ground and opened to devour them whole. Meryl fired another shot but the beast wasn't going to buy it this time, a few more shots and it couldn't take it and withdrew again. A slight drone of a helicopter could be heard but it was distant, maybe it was coming over here and would help...

[D]

Jake decided to go to the road. The chances of stuff falling of them seemed smaller and there fore some what safer. He could also see things that jumped out at them while on the road. Of course there were cons, but he didn't seem to have the time to think of them. Without anymore thought, Jake was speeding down the road with a rust bucket and Meryl in tow. Hopfully something would stop that thing and maybe even save them.

[B]

Meryl found herself waiting again for it show its head, only this time it didn't pop out at the same distance. The droning grew louder, the helicopter passed right over head, at first it seemed like the helicopter was leaving them behind but it came to an abrupt halt in the sky, the driver having decided to help at last second. The truck passed where the helicopter was and the helicopter started moving again until it was traveling at relatively the same speed. It was a military chopper, it had .50 mms on it that a figure occupied. The shots rung out into the ground but didn't seem to be thwarting the creature's advance. The worm was planning to head underneath the truck, if it gets too close it's going to crash the truck like it did the barn. The helicopter seemed to guess at this and it lowered until it was near the height of the truck, the masked figure could be seen, Meryl knew exactly who it was. The figure beckoned her and she propped herself up on the side of the truck and grabbed the handle at the side of the chopper, she then scooted her way to the driver's side door of the truck and shouted to Jake, but over the helicopter and the crumbling of the street he didn't hear it, though it was obvious she was shouting something along the lines of "Come on!"

[D]

Jake turned to see Meryl and he noded. While keeping his foot on the gas, he somehow got to move. He found himself quickly getting to the chopter and when he finally got on, he saw the truck spin out of control and eventually slow into a halt. Is some sort of safety, he saw the truck disappear into the ground. Truthfully, he was almost horrified, but his face showed no emotion of fear. Instead he looked extremely amused. It was a common face scientists seemed to have when something went wrong.

It was obvious that what he had experienced on that day was amazing to him. First he got close to /the/ Alm Sot and then he got close to some big worm thing. That gigantic beast seemed to come straight out of a sci-fi novel, but still, he couldn't help it. Jake was fascinated with it. Any scientist who lived would have been fascinated. Hell even Amanda would have had some interest.

"..." After getting over the facts that he had just survived, he looked up at his savior and then at Meryl.It was then he wondered whether or not to thank the person or not. So he simply waited for Meryl to say something. If she ever said something of course.

[B]

Meryl watched Jake leave the truck and get on the helicopter, hoping he would keep his footing, luckily he was able to. The helicopter rose when they were all on, Meryl hopped up into the helicopter with Jake and sat down. The man on the machine gun didn't seem to move from his position.
"Where have you been?"
Meryl asked and the man didn't speak for a second but eventually answered.
"Checking some things."
His voice came through. He had his traditional black gas mask and helmet, his armor didn't look anything too extraordinary from year 2000 kevlar, it was black, there seemed to be a black piece of cloth wrapped around his arm.
"We need to go to Raccoon City."
"No."
"Hm?"
"Not yet. We've been following you when we saw you at the barn a few miles back."
Meryl looked at the man and then at Jake, figuring she should greet them.
"Hunk, this is Jake King, my mission. If we have no part of where you're taking us then drop us off."
She said, her voice almost threatening.
"You do have a part."
Hunk got off the gun and walked to the copilot's seat.
"Take us back to Sanguina Airport."
He told the pilot. He was in the standard merc armor, his didn't seem to be colored.The helicopter turned a bit in response. Meryl turned to Jake and laughed a little.
"Never a dull moment, huh?"
The ride wasn't long at all, the helicopter set down and all four of them exited. There were no undead here, only bodies of dead zombies, a few of them were wearing armor like the mercs. There was one plane in the small dirt airport, it seemed to be the size of a private jet Hunk walked with the other merc and spoke, Meryl didn't move, she looked at Jake.
"He's acting strange... Keep your head up."
She warned him, and as if that was a cue a gunshot rang out, Hunk was standing over the merc who was driving the helicopter. Apparently the merc removed his helmet and Hunk shot him. Meryl instinctively withdrew her gun and jumped in front of Jake whilst aiming at Hunk.
"What the hell!?"
"Put the gun down Meryl."
He said casually as he holstered his gun.
"He was sending out messages to an unknown frequency, he can't be trusted."
It was strange, Hunk wouldn't have cared if someone was giving locations, Hunk never minded the fight, it would just lure in people so he wouldn't have to fight them later, this only means that whatever he was planning was unscheduled. Meryl slowly lowered her gun and looked at the dead comrade.
"Stay with me, Jake."
She whispered to him and went to the dead body and grabbed his weapons, tossing his handgun to Jake, though Jake had one of his own, two is better in case one ran out.
"Get on the plane."
Hunk said and entered it, taking the pilot's seat. Meryl sat by Jake and strapped themselves in.
"Where are we going?"
Meryl asked, Hunk didn't answer, the plane lifted. Hunk didn't say anything since that, Meryl was cautious, she turned to Jake.
"We can't sleep at the same time, if you want to get some shut eye, go ahead, I'll keep watch."
She whispered lightly to him.

[D]

Jake silently listened and watched to the scene that unfold before him. Whoever this guy was, he looked pretty bad ass and when with a bad ass, Jake found that it was better to be silent. It didn't take long to get to the airport and the moment they exited the helicopter Meryl gave him a warning. "Right... I hope-"

Before he could say anymore, a gunshot rang through the air and he immediately drew his own gun for defense. He heard the exchange of words and then caught the gun that Meryl had tossed him. "Mhm.." He replied quietly and followed Meryl into the plane. Where ever they were going, Jake hope it wasn't a flight to his death. He had too much on stake and he felt that he had much more to offer.

It was then, in the middle of his own thoughts, Meryl turned to him and told him to rest. Jake nodded slowly and attempted at shut eye, but because of the rush from earlier he failed at getting any sleep. So instead, Jake stared through the plane's window. The world bellow them was no longer the same world. Maybe it was greener and probably healthier than before in terms of the actual planet, but at the same time it was the nastiest and dirtiest place to live. Now that he thought about it, the world hadn't change. Extremes still existed and what was once ridiculous had turned into something common.

[B]

Despite having told Jake that she'd play lookout, she eventually nodded off into a quiet sleep. Even if she does have adrenaline in her veins, she was dead tired. She hadn't gotten much sleep since she caught up to the group.

8 hours passed until she woke up, the sky outside was still black, she couldn't tell where they were. She let out a large yawn then a sigh. She felt better now that she actually got a decent sleep. She looked over at Jake then at Hunk in the pilot's seat. She walked over and sat in the copilot's seat. She looked at the latitude and longitude, they were far south.
"Hunk, where are you taking us?"
She asked, her voice calm. He didn't bother to look at her, his hands were in his lap, the plane was on autopilot.
"Antarctica."
He replied and Meryl raised an eyebrow.
"But why?"
"... It should only be an hour or two more. There's warm clothes in the back, put them on."
Now that she thought of it, she was freezing. She stood back up and went to the back, five minutes later she came out wearing a gray overcoat with fur on the inside. She also seemed to put on a pair of thick pants and black gloves. On her head sat a black beanie with an "N" logo on the top of it. Meryl sat by Jake and moved her hand to attempt to shake him awake but thought against it and withdrew herself.
"No. Wake him."
Hunk told her and she complied and shook Jake.
"Hey... There's warm clothes in the back, go get changed."
She told him softly a voice she hasn't used since she met him, then again, they haven't seen her this relaxed yet, either. While he did that, Meryl took out her father's sunglasses and played with them a bit, suddenly she felt like asking Jake something, she turned around, whether he was getting dressed or not she didn't seem to care.
"Jake... My dad did he..."
She laughed.
"Nevermind."
She looked out the window and can slightly see the mass of ice that is Antarctica. It was beautiful.

[D]

After what seemed to be forever, Jake fell asleep. He was gently shook awake and he woke up to an unfamiliar yet familiar voice. He opened his eyes and heard Meryl talk abou the clothing. "Right...It is really cold." He said with a smile. He unbuckled himself and headed to the back to change. While he changed he heard Meryl say something and quirked his eyebrow. "What about Uncle Jack?" He asked, but she replied with nevermind and shrugged.

When he came back he was dressed in a navy blue snow coat with the normal soft fuzz in the inside. Along with that he had on thick black pant with matching gloves. In his hand was one of those warm ski masks, but it seemed to only have an eye hole. "Finished." Another one of his reassuring grins planted itself on his face and he sat down again, buckling the seat belt. "Crazy day..."

[B]

Meryl looked at the mask in his hand and laughed, she could just picture him wearing it. She put the sunglasses back in her pocket and it hit her. She stood up quickly and moved for the back.
"Don't bother."
Hunk replied as Meryl started getting out parachutes.
"We're not going to crash. It's too cold for the birds and this plane was made for this kind of weather."
Meryl held the parachute for a few seconds but then decided to comply, dropping it on the ground. An hour passed and Hunk spoke up again.
"Buckle up, we're landing."
"About damn time."
Meryl sat and buckled the belt. As they hit the ground the plane began to slide, Hunk knew what he was doing though, the air strip was big and he had landed not far from the beginning. The plane continued to slide as Hunk kept the breaks down. They were getting awfully close to a facility (which had a plane crashed into the side ironically), so close Meryl was beginning to regret not leaving the plane behind and jumping off with a parachute. In a few seconds the plane slid to a halt and Hunk unbuckled himself and stood up. He went to the back and grabbed out a brown thick leather coat and draped it over his tactical suit. Then he opened the steps and left the plane, Meryl following after then Jake. It was storming, the wind was fast and so cold it was like blades hitting your cheeks. Almost immediately Meryl put the jacket hood over her head with the beanie and draped it over part of her face. It was extremely difficult to walk, the wind was fighting them and the ice under them wasn't allowing them to keep traction, Hunk seemed to be doing fine. The wind was too loud to speak so they continued until they finally succeeded in making it to the facility. When they walked in the lights were on, Hunk shook his head.
"The power's on, lock and load."
Hunk said as he pulled his smg from his back and turned off the safety. Meryl took out the sniper she had picked up off of the dead ally at the airport curiously.
"Why?"
"Undead."
Then she noticed, red and white right by her was an Umbrella logo.
"But it's freezing, how are they able to handle it?"
"Originally they were frozen, I kept the power off for that purpose, but sometimes the backup generator kicks on and turns on the heating systems."
"And they thawed..."
Hunk nodded and started moving, Meryl followed. The second door slid open to reveal a place similar to the Hive of Wesker's only smaller. It was cold in here, the air was getting through the giant hole caused by a crashed plane in the side.
"What happened there?"
Meryl asked. Hunk looked back at her for a second.
"Too long a story."
They began moving through many doors and down some steps until they reached an elevator. They took it down until they got into a bright room, it was obvious to see why. There was a mansion in front of them and the area around them was a large dome with an artificial sky.
"Weird."
"We're almost there."
They entered the mansion, a staircase was in front of them, a picture was in the middle, Hunk reached into his pocket and withdrew three pretty jewels.
"This mansion has been modeled to look like one made in the Arklay Mountains by Raccoon City. That's the place where all this started."
Hunk said, giving a history lesson. Meryl wondered how he knew. Hunk walked up the steps to the picture and started putting in the jewels. one in a man's ear, another in a female child's neck, and the last in a male child's hand. The wall slid open, revealing a door. He opened it and into the lab they went. When Hunk entered he immediately removed his helmet. His hair was dark gray, his face was withered with age with a slight lines of scarring here and there. His eyes were as black as death. Inside the lab there was a single capsule. There was a torn up creature inside it, Hunk seemed to have bowed to it.
"Alexia Ashford."
He said and brought his head up. There seemed to be a tube going into a wall. There was another door. Hunk followed it through with the others following into another hive room, except it looked like there was literally a hive. It was destroyed at the bottom of the pit but there seemed to be ants crawling in and out of it. Hunk continued, Meryl noted the old blood stains on the side of the wall where it seemed an injured man rubbed against. The final room seemed like a smaller lab for a single scientist. There was no capsule as far as Meryl could see. Hunk started hitting some buttons and a capsule came up from the ground. There was a metal cover. Hunk sat in the chair and started typing some more, it looked like he was checking the vitals of some specimen inside, Meryl had so many questions but she felt they will be answered if she watched. Suddenly Hunk felt it was okay, he pushed another button and the metal casing opened, revealing the subject inside...

[D]

Jake scratched the back of his head and laughed along with her, but then he realized that they would probably need a way of getting off the place. Just as he got out of the seat Hunk told them not to bother and before he could do anymore, Jake was told to buckle up. Of course he did what he was told and he buckled back up. Instead of feeling the normal bumps and such from the grinding of the wheels on the air strip, the plane seemed to slid on the ice. It was expected of the plane, but still, Jake didn't really like the feeling. Thankfully, it ended quickly and soon enough they were headed into a storm. Before setting foot outside of the plane, he pulled on the ski mask and then his hood. After that was done he followed after Hunk quietly, for the cold wouldn't allow him to speak.

To him, it seemed to take ages to get to the facilty, but the moment they got there, Jake drew out his gun. It wasn't because Hunk had told him, but he recognize the umbrella symbol. From all the stories his mother told him, he knew that it wasn't good at all. As he followed Hunk he saw interesting thngs such as a torn creature and a hive center and then finally a metal tube. "...I wonder what's this place for..." Jake muttered as he waited for Hunk to finished typing. He waited in silence and when Hunk pressed the final button, Jake's eyes widened. His expression seemed to be a mix of many. "Holy shit!" He yelled. "Why do you have my mom in a tube?! Naked!"

[B]

"What?"
Meryl looked at Jake then at the tube.
"That can't be your mother... Look at her."
Hunk was silent for a second, ignoring Jake's exclamation. He took off the jacket he had taken from the plane and turned back to the computer screen. It was time to wake her up, it's early but things are happening now. He started typing and soon enough the fluid she was floating in began to drain. There were many tubes in her, all of which seemed to disconnect from her body at the push of a button. She might be regaining consciousness about this point. The glass slid open. Hunk wasn't worried about her being weak and falling, she should feel like she's had the best sleep she's ever had and yet also the feeling that she's not all her.
"This is... Impossible."
Meryl said and took a few steps back, her face cringed with a hint of fear. Did Hunk recreate Jake's mother, or did he just create another feral monster?