Resident Evil: Vengeance 13 Ashes

February 20, 2012, 5:40pm- New York, Terrasave Headquarters

"Happy birthday Page," Jacob says with a gentle smile as he hands me an envelope.

"Thanks," I reply as I take it. As I start to open it Jacob leaves my office, walking over to his which nextdoor.

He didn't even bother to seal it. As I pull the paper out it feels a bit warm as if it was just printed recently. Guess this was a last minute gift idea...it's probably a coupon or something to a restaurant. I glance over at the wall I share with his office. This is lazy even for him.

With low expectations I pull out the paper and unfold it. There's only a couple sentences printed on it. It reads:

"Happy Birthday Page! Bet you thought this was going to be a coupon didn't you?"

I can't help but let out a sigh and shake my head before I continue to read it,

"In a way, this is. I know you wanna be more than friends and I've gotten all your 'subtle' hints. Since we've worked together for about three years I decided, 'why the heck not at least go on a date?'. So, just email me the place, date, and time and I'll make reservations and pay for it all. Happy birthday, and P.S, also let me know what your favorite breakfast food is,"

What the h.e.l.l is this? He's giving me a date for my birthday? This must be a prank.

Rising out of my chair I take the letter and walk over to his office, knocking on the door. He answers it promptly, his normal, stone cold, resting b.i.t.c.h face on display.

"Is this a joke?" I ask, holding up the letter.

"No," He replies nonchalantly, "But if you don't want I can take it back and get you something that's on your amazone wish list,"

"...Uh...no, it's fine…"

"I'm just, gonna take that as a, no, than," He says as he reaches for the paper. I move the paper away from his hand and closer to me. I try to think of a response, but I can't. I never would have thought he would do something like this. Jacob snaps me out of my thoughts as he speaks.

"Okay, well I'm gonna get back to work than,"

He starts backing into his office, the door closing. Before it can fully close I press my hand against it.

"Does tonight work?" I ask, pus.h.i.+ng the door open.

"Of course. Just send me the email and I'll make it happen,"

"O-Okay," I say as I step back. b.u.t.terflies fill my stomach as I go to my office. Sitting in front of my computer I start a draft for the email. As I read type up the email I start to wonder why he wants to know my favorite breakfast. Is he going to have the place make that for me? Or, is he going to make me breakfast? Why would he do that? … I can feel my face heat up as I try to get those thoughts out of my head.

I finish the email and hit send.

7:35pm

Jacob sends me a text that simply reads, "here". As I go to exit my apartment I almost fall over. I haven't worn heels in quite some time. Working at Terrasave hasn't really given me much free time, which is partly why I decided to have the date tonight. That, and I feel like if I didn't use it now, he'd forget or change his mind about it.

After the dangerous trek down the apartment stairs, I exit to find Jacob standing in front of the building, leaning against a black car parked behind him. He's in a black suit and pants, a brown belt around his waist and a red tie that catches the eye. His hair is actually done for once, moistly slicked back with some hair in the front going down over his forehead a bit before curving up. When he sees me walk out his face lights up, looking at me with a warm smile.

"That's a nice dress," He says as he walks up to me, "Have you always had this?"

"Yeah, but you know, I've never had a special occasion to wear this,"

"Well I'm flattered that our date is one of those special occasions," He walks up to the car and opens the door for me.

"We're driving there? I thought I said that we could just walk there in the email, it's just a five minute walk from here,"

"You did," He replies as he walks back up to me, "But, I was hoping that we'd spend the night at my place after dinner," He wraps a hand around my right hand. I can feel my face heat up as he stares into my eyes. If my feet weren't already killing me I'm sure this would seem much more romantic.

This must be a dream. This can't be real, this isn't't Jacob. Jacob doesn't have the emotional capacity for this.

He removes his hand and walks back up to the car, gesturing for me to take a seat.

Well...dream or not, I might as well enjoy it.

As I walk up to the car, doing everything not to trip in my high heels, he holds up a hand for me to grab. I eagerly take it before I have a chance to fall and get into the car. Sitting down, he closes the door for me and gets into the driver's seat. We arrive at the restaurant in only a few minutes. It's some very fancy looking place with gla.s.s walls that I've never been to, but all my co-workers who've gone here say it's really good.

We're seated at a table, obviously covered in a white cloth, along with all the other dozen tables in the giant room. The furniture is a slick black, no stains or scratches to be found. A small clear vase sits in the middle of the table, a single rose sitting in it, water in the base of the vase keeping the stem a vibrant green and the flower a bright red.

The waiter comes and Jacob gets us a bottle of wine. They pour us our drinks and take our order.

"Too bad we work all the time," Jacob says with a slight chuckle as he picks up his gla.s.s, "So we don't exactly have much to talk about in that regard," In a matter of seconds he drinks all the wine in his gla.s.s, placing it back down before he continues to speak, "Guess all we can do is ask each other questions about our lives before Terrasave,," He leans back in his chair a bit, folding his arms a bit, "I'll let you ask first,"

"Oh, um…" He completely caught off guard, "Well...hmm...I guess I'd like to know why you joined Terrasave? I mean, I might have died that night had you not been there after all,"

"I'm sure I've told you this answer before but to different questions, but it was videogames and movies. When I found out that zombies and viruses were real, I signed right up,"

"You're kidding," I say, unable to keep myself from laughing a bit at such a ridiculous sounding answer.

"It's true," He replies with an embarra.s.sed smile, holding his hands up at his sides, "You wouldn't believe how much they laughed at me when I told the employers that," He rubs the top of his wine gla.s.s, "THey always made fun of me while I was in the bootcamp, but I was always top of the cla.s.s, best in my group. Since you asked me why I joined, I guess I'll ask why you joined,"

"I wish it was as good as your answer, but...I just didn't what I wanted to do and they reached out to me and I just went with it. The whole reason I had joined the army was because I didn't know what I wanted to do after highschool. I had gone to college for a bit, stopped and got a job, than went back, than stopped again. I had always ignored the people at the campuses who look for new recruits but one day I just thought, 'why not give it a shot, maybe I'll enjoy it'...but I didn't really and it never helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life…"

I glance at the side of the table as I recall those darker days. The bitter cold that entrapped me, the pressure from my family.

"...Hey," Jacob says as he places a hand on mine, I didn't even realize I was leaning forward on the table, "It lead you here didn't it?" He asks caringly, a gentle smile on his face as he tries to cheer me up.

"Yeah, I guess it did," I reply, his warm hand melting away the cold. As the waiter comes with our food we both withdraw our hands. We spend the rest of the time there eating, talking, laughing. The waiter takes our plates and Jacob's card, leaving to pay the bill.

"So...do you want me to drop you off, or, do you wanna have breakfast at my place?" He asks with a raised eyebrow, a burning pa.s.sion in his eyes.

"..."

We get back to his place and I start to unb.u.t.ton his s.h.i.+rt. His skin is rotting away, the skin almost entirely gone and even some bones are visible.

"What the-"

Before I can react the zombie that was disguised as Jacob lunges at me, sinking its teeth into my neck.

…

March 21, 2015, 8:22pm- Mazraea, Flea Market

I suddenly wake up in terror, my eyes opening to see nothing but black. Before my eyes can adjust I close them as a major headache hits me. It was just a nightmare…but, why did it have to end at the good part...

Oh G.o.d, my head. Feels like someone hit me in the face with a jack hammer. I go to rub my aching forehead, but my hand is stop by something cold. I open my eyes to see that I still have a mask on. But...didn't it fall off..? I push myself up, a mixture of dizziness and sleepiness trying to lay me back down. I squint my eyes to see, but it's very dark, a faint silver glow coming in through what I can only guess is a window. There's footsteps as a familiar voice speaks.

"About time," They say. As my eyes adjust to the dim lighting I can start to make out Jacob's face, "I've already eaten all the snacks in your bag and I'm still starving to death,"

"How-" The mask m.u.f.fling my voice makes my head hurt even more. I take it off before talking again, "How, long have I been out?"

"Three hours,"

"Where are we?" Page asks as she sits up, still quite light headed.

"Still in the market. The both of us got real lucky that this building's first floor managed to remain practically unharmed," He kneels down and looks at the wound on her head, it's already scabbed up and starting to heal back. As Jacob stands up Page notices a large scar on his left arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Just a small scratch," He replies, dusting off his arm, "That thing from the plane was only playing dead," He walks over to the other side of the room and picks up the duffle bag, "It's dead for good now, but we only have two magazines for the pistol left," He walks back up to Page and holds out a hand. She takes it and stands up.

"It's better if you have this," Jacob states as he pulls her pistol out from the bag and hands it to her.

"Thanks,"

As Page catches her breath and tries to fight off the tiredness, Jacob moves the stuff barricading the the door. As he's moving the last couple of things, Page looks at him, remembering that night all those years ago.

That was the only night he was ever…human, is the only word I can think to describe it...After that he went back to being his usual uncaring self. Though it's a pleasant memory, it just makes me wonder if that was the real him, or if this is the real him and it was all just a facade.

Jacob pulls out his knife as he signals for Page to get ready. He slowly opens the door a bit, checking for anything outside before he opens it fully and heads out. Page follows him out the door to find themselves in yet again an unknown place. Almost every building is completely covered in scorch marks, grey ashes cover all the roofs, and streets almost looking like snow. In the middle of the street not too far from them sits a puddle of burnt goo.

Charred remains and even some bones are visible in the thin layer of ashes.

"At least there's no more zombies…" Page says, trying to find the silver lining, "Do you know if the plane got damaged at all?"

"No idea,"

"We need to go double check it than. After that we'll head to your office," She states before walking down the street. The empty streets once more give the place an entirely different atmosphere, the place once filled with the screaming of fires, people, and monsters, now filled with a deathly silence. A chilling breeze blows through the town, giving the buildings a voice to talk about the pain they've suffered. Arriving at the airstrip the plane is torn apart, looking like it exploded from the inside. The sight keeps them distracted from the things moving around in the market.

"Was this the only airport on the whole island?" Page asks.

"...Yeah…" Jacob replies. The two stand there staring at the shredded remains. The main reason they went through the market was for this, and now, it's destroyed like everything else in the market. Turning around the two see a figure way off in the distance kneeling down. Their red clothes illuminate like a rose in the moonlight. Before Page or Jacob can do anything the figure stands up and takes off as shadows inside the buildings start moving.

"Of course we're not alone here," Jacob says as he tightens his grip on his knife, "Let's just get the h.e.l.l out of here, hopefully that person doesn't steal my moped. You wanna walk down the street or go through the buildings?" Page glances at the buildings where she had seen the things moving inside.

"Is either one really better?"

"Streets it is, it'll at least be faster,"

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The two start making their way back through the market, Jacob keeping an eye on the left side and Page keeping an eye on the right. Not worried about anything before, the two never realized how much their footsteps echoed until now. Occasionally they hear something moving inside the buildings, seeing several small shadows moving about. They look to be a bit bigger than rats or something. Whatever they are, they must be animals, or possibly insects…

They pa.s.s by the charred gooey remains that was by the building they were in once more. They reach an intersection in the street, one way going straight and the other way going to the right. They continue to go straight, but as they do they start to hear the things in the buildings becoming more active. What sounds like a bunch of rats squeaking starts to fill the buildings and before Page or Jacob can react, a horde of rats come pouring out from the buildings a few yards in front of them. All the rats have blood red eyes that s.h.i.+ne in the moonlight which reveals all the wounds and blood on them.

The two turn to run back but see that another horde of rats are coming at them from that side too.

"This way!" Jacob shouts as he grabs Page's arm and starts running down the street going right. Not long after they start running down it, even more rats start to flood onto the street, trying to block their path. They can feel the rats trying to climb up their shoes as they trample some of them running past.

"There!" Jacob shouts, pointing at a three story on their left. Running inside the two head up the stairs, the rats quickly following. As they reach the last set of stairs leading to a door to the roof, rats fill the first floor, the walls turning black and coming alive as they crawl up them. Bursting through the door onto the roof, the two continue to run, jumping down onto the next roof. Some of the rats had started climbing onto the t building already and reach the top. Jacob and Page run to the right, jumping to another roof.

"Up the ladder!" Jacob shouts. Page quickly starts to climb, Jacob quickly following after as the Rats all try to jump over the gap, falling to the floor and quickly getting up and climbing the building. As Page reaches the top, the rats already reach the roof below Jacob. Jacob starts skipping steps and joins Page at the top. The two continue to run, jumping from roof to roof until they reach the main street. They're only two buildings away from the edge of the market. They make a right and make it to the last building standing on the edge of the market, and can see the scooter not too far away. They hurry inside the building as the horde of rats continue their chase. They just reach the last set of stairs when rats start falling from above. One lands on Jacob, immediately biting him on the shoulder.

"Motherf.u.c.ker!" He shouts in pain as he pulls the rat off of him and hurling it at a nearby wall. They run out of the building and to the scooter. The two practically jump onto it, Jacob starting it up and putting it on max power before the rats have a chance to catch up. As the two drive down the dirt road, they can barely see another vehicle far off in the distance in front of them. As Page glances back at the market she sees a light coming from the side of the market which quickly turns off.

"I think we have someone-" Page goes to say but stops when she sees the bite mark on Jacob's shoulder which is healing before her very eyes, "Following us…"