Sheva had to admit, Agents Valentine and Chambers were true professionals. They moved with her team as if they’d been there for years, moving smoothly, efficiently. And with their man, Dalton, making himself a distraction, cutting into the rebel camp was simplicity itself.
As luck would have it, the buyer and his entourage were already there. David Jonah could not be mistaken. Right now, the man was screaming.
“Incompetents!” He waved his flabby arms wildly, angrily, as if his gestures would make any difference now. “I’m surrounded by incompetents!”
Sheva, Valentine, and Chambers all kept their weapons trained on him. The rest of the team held up the few personnel that remained in the camp. Completely unprepared, this sorry lot. The rebels were on the scrawnier side, dressed in a patchwork of military fatigues, whatever they’d found or looted. It was Jonah’s men that looked like real threats - though there weren’t many of them. Less than a handful he’d brought to accompany him on this buy. A dozen men in total from both sides… captured in their camp without a shot fired. Sheva almost felt bad for them.
Jonah, however, was exactly as pathetic as Sheva expected him to be. Dark-skinned, bald, and portly, with a gut that wobbled under his shirt as he threw his tantrum. Sheva found the outrage burning in his bulging eyes to be obnoxious. It was like the man could hardly believe he was being arrested. Delusions of grandeur had never been more irritating. Sheva couldn’t imagine how dangerous Jonah might have become with his hands on bioweapons.
“It was you, yeah?” Jonah spat at one of the rebels, a beanstalk of a young man. “Sold me out for a pardon? Cowards!”
“Always someone else, right?” Sheva scowled. “Not this time. You’ve been playing with fire for too long. It was only a matter of time before you burned yourself.”
Jonah stared at her, mouth opening and closing. Then he threw his head back and laughed. A wretched, mocking sound.
“Not fire, little girl. Power. In this world, you have power or you have nothing.” There was something in his hand, Sheva noticed then. Long and thin and white. A vial?
Sheva’s heart jumped. She clutched her gun, tension snapping up her back.
“I’ve heard this before.” Agent Valentine scoffed beside her. “They make men like you in a factory or something?”
Jonah was laughing again, a dark, menacing chuckle now. He started to pace slowly.
“Don’t move!” Agent Chambers shouted. Jonah paid her no mind.
“You are dogs. Well-trained, yes, but dogs. Your First World masters march all over the globe yet I am the monster because I refuse to be stepped on?”
“You’re a monster because you kill innocent people!” Chambers snapped back. It was surprising fury to see from such a slight woman. “I’ve read your file, Jonah. Child soldiers, torture, mass killings. You’ve wiped entire villages off the map!”
Jonah responded to his list of crimes with indifference. He gave a dismissive wave. So flippant and petty that it infuriated Sheva almost as much as the crimes themselves. Oh how she wished to squeeze the trigger in that moment, looking upon David Jonah’s flabby, sweaty face.
“You’re nothing but just another warlord.” Sheva all but hissed. Her aim was steady, muscles firm like steel. Target dead in her sights. “The party is over, Jonah. Tell your men to lay down their weapons and surrender. By the authority of the BSAA, we’re placing you under arrest.”
There was bristling among the rebels and Jonah’s men that didn’t go unnoticed. The shame of being ordered about by a woman. Sheva had become too familiar with the look. They obeyed in the end, though, and Sheva got some satisfaction in the sting on their faces.
One by one, the rebels and the militants set their weapons on the dirt and raised their hands. All except for Jonah.
David Jonah was laughing once again. This time the laughter was without humor, snide, sharp, and wheezing. There was contempt in his eyes now. Contempt and cold hatred.
“Arrested?” The fat warlord spat the word. “The Great Lion, David Jonah, arrested? You think that is how my story ends? Stupid girls.”
He gestured derisively at them and Sheva again caught the glint of the small, metal thing in his hands. She got a better look this time. A syringe, she realized.
“Lady said hands up, jackass!” Agent Valentine barked, taking a threatening step forward.
Jonah glowered at the American. For a moment, he was silent. Then he let out a sigh, glancing down at the syringe he held.
“The battlefield is no place for women.” He said plainly. “You should have stayed home.”
Jonah met Sheva’s eyes then. The seconds seemed to crawl.
“Don’t fucking try it!” Agent Valentine rang clear.
Jonah grinned. His hand moved quickly. Agent Chambers let out a cry.
“Don’t-”
The bald, portly warlord had just enough time to jam the needle into his thigh, stabbing right through his fatigues. The instant after that, gunfire cracked through the forest camp and David Jonah’s torso erupted into sprays of red. A dozen shots total from Sheva and Valentine both. Over in seconds. The man had already dropped like a sack by the time it was done, collapsing over lifeless legs.
Some rebels fled into the forest. Most were smart and dropped to the ground, covering their heads. The rebel camp was now thick with gunsmoke… and silent as a grave.
The BSAA stood victorious. And David Jonah lay dead.
Sheva slowly went over to him. She had to be sure. Still keeping her weapon trained on him, she took in the man’s face. His expression was frozen with… Shock? Fear? The only thing Sheva could tell for sure was how empty his eyes were.
Agent Alomar frowned.
“Damn. I’d hoped to take him alive.” She muttered as Agent Valentine came up beside her.
“He took the coward’s way out.” The American declared with a scowl. “Good riddance.”
Sheva couldn’t disagree. She’d seen men like Jonah since she was a little girl. Too many of them lived too long and too happily for her liking. Jonah would get no tears from her.
She holstered her gun, taking a quick accounting of the camp. Her men were establishing a perimeter now. And their new prisoners remained on the ground, covering their heads.
“Those who fled won’t get far. All that’s left is to account for the bioweapons.” Sheva decided. She called over to Agent Chambers. “Pictures only. Save the handling for the disposal team.”
Chambers was already on it, of course. The medic was dutifully snapping pictures with a small digital camera, going down a row of barrels marked with the old Umbrella logo. There were over a dozen of them, Sheva counted, all neatly arranged out in the center of the camp. Just how close had Jonah been to walking off with them, Sheva wondered.
“Should we circle back next?” Agent Chambers called back to her, shaking Sheva from her thoughts. “Link back up with Dalton? We left him on his own.”
“He doesn’t need the back-up. You know that.” Agent Valentine answered bluntly. She muttered something else under her breath that Sheva couldn’t catch.
There was obvious tension and Sheva couldn’t help but feel curious. But she waved the feeling away. This wasn’t the proper time for gossip.
“Just radio him.” Sheva offered diplomatically. “Let him know we’ve dealt with Jonah, the rebel camp is locked down.”
Chambers nodded, reaching for her earpiece. A faint huff left her lips.
“He’ll be disappointed.” The medic admitted, eyeing Jonah’s remains. “He wanted to take Jonah’s hide himself.”
“Captain America can’t be the big hero every time.” Valentine countered with a scoff. “You can tell the big guy he made a good distraction.”
“I’ll let him know. In those exact words.”
Sheva allowed herself the smallest of smiles. The two Americans bickered like sisters. Sheva had always wanted sisters. And their Yankee banter was amusing.
Regarding Jonah… It was as Valentine said. Good riddance.
“John?” Sheva heard Chambers’ voice ring out over the comm line. “We’re at the rebel camp. Jonah’s dead. BOW samples are secure. We’re pretty much wrapped up over here. Do you copy-”
Suddenly, there came a sound. Ghastly. Inhuman.
It ripped through the air, deep, wretched gargling accompanied by the sickening sounds of ripping flesh and cracking bones. Hearing it made Sheva’s spine rattle.
All others went silent. All looked to the source.
Rebel, militant, BSAA, they all set their eyes upon David Jonah’s thrashing, writhing corpse. The portly, perforated body had been stricken with new life. Cursed life. Violent life.
His mouth was open and gnashing, foaming from the lips with black bile. His eyes were wide open, yellow like pus and bloodshot. Dead eyes that could see. They were no longer hateful. They were beyond that. Vicious. Feral.
“My God…” Sheva backed away, drawing back out her gun. Not even the cold, heavy metal brought comfort now. Not when the dead lived again.
Valentine, on the other hand, was far too calm.
“I knew this was too easy.” She sounded annoyed.
Now Jonah’s corpse was starting to bulge. At first, Sheva felt ready to heave, fearing that the thrashing body was going to burst. Instead the bulging continued, stretching skin and muscle and bone, ripping and cracking as dead flesh came alive again to take new shape.
“John, scratch that.” Sheva heard Chambers over the comms again. “We’ve got a serious problem over here. A big problem.”
- - -
“Copy. Big problem. Got any more specifics?”
Dalton took a quick accounting of his surroundings. Plenty of dead things, dozens of winged corpses littering the forest floor. These BOWs had given him about as much trouble as the Lickers did - none at all. Hell, his LMG still had most of its ammo.
A bit of a shame. He’d been hoping for a challenge.
But Rebecca didn’t answer him. Instead, a deep, ear-splitting roar rose up in the distance. Sounding like neither man nor beast, it carried through the trees, thundering so strong Dalton felt it in his bones.
He stood up straight, gripping his gun. That was no Licker, that was for damn sure. And whatever the hell it was, he knew the rest of the team wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Not without him.
“Nevermind.” Dalton answered over the comms. “I’m on my way.”
He broke into a sprint. A straight shot towards the source of that inhuman roar. His boots pounded dirt, crushing leaves and twigs underfoot as he barreled on through the forest, leaping over bushes and fallen logs.
Another roar split the air. Louder. Closer. Gunfire cracked in response, defiant. It was good to hear. It meant the girls were still alive.
“John?” Rebecca’s worried voice crackled in his ear. “We could really use your help right now!”
“Just hang tight, darlin’. Almost there.” Dalton grunted, charging at top speed.
His legs pumped beneath him, propelling his body like a missile. So fast he was that the wind whipped at his face. The gunfire grew louder. He was so close now. Then he saw it. Up above, through the branches of the trees… Dalton saw a shape. Dark and massive. It moved and the ground shook.
Between the thundering footfalls and the popping of bullets, Dalton could hear Jill and Sheva shouting, barking orders to the team.
“Fall back!”
“Take cover!”
Dalton, however, had a different plan.
He broke through the treeline, bolting into the clearing of the rebel camp, nerves hot and gun at the ready. He looked up at the shape… and the enemy that stared back as no beast, but a giant.
It towered over him, fifteen feet tall. Its sickly grey skin was thick as a rhino hide and torn in so many places that it was just barely hanging onto its mass of bulging red muscles. Fists the size of engine blocks swung low as it moved, lurched on legs as thick as tree trunks. Jagged teeth lined a drooling, open maw. And set within that mangled face were two yellow eyes that held no thought and no shine. Only savagery.
God damn.
The giant snarled, a guttural noise that emanated from its pulsing chest. There was a visceral ripping sound as it raised its arm up, like the creature was tearing apart just from moving its own body. Then it swung down to crush Dalton with its mallet-like fist.
Dalton dove to the side just as it collided with the earth. THOOM. Clumps of dirt pelted his back as he quickly rolled out of sight.
It was just his luck to spot Rebecca then. His pretty little medic was taking cover behind a large, thick tree. She looked cute crouched down - even cuter when her eyes lit up at the sight of him. She waved him over.
“Hey, Doc.” Dalton grinned as he knelt beside her. “This asshole giving you a hard time?”
“It’s Jonah. We had him cornered and he injected himself with something. Might have been one of the Umbrella samples he was buying.” Rebecca explained.
“What, he didn’t think he was ugly enough?”
Rebecca slapped his shoulder, unamused. Dalton accepted the glare. Ms. Chambers was even cuter when she was mad.
“John, this is serious. We have to put him down. What if he reaches a town? Or what if he damages the biohazard containers-?”
“It’ll be a bad day for everybody. Got it.” Dalton set a hand on her shoulder. “Relax. Taking down the big ugly monsters is my specialty.”
The giant let out another thunderous roar, so loud that Rebecca had to cover her ears. She looked especially small right then. Dalton, though, could only feel impressed. It took the Doc a lot of spunk to be in this line of work.
“You hurt?” He dropped the cocky attitude for a moment.
“Not a scratch.” Rebecca assured him proudly.
“Good.” Dalton hefted up his machine gun, smiling again. “Tell Alomar and Valentine to disengage, find some cover, and stay hidden. That goes for you, too… unless you wanna watch.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. Though she still shared his smile.
“I’ll keep my distance.”
“Smart girl.”
Dalton wasted no time. He jumped out into the open, leveled his LMG, and fired a long burst into Jonah’s hulking back. Bullets tore into dead skin and swollen muscle… but he may as well have been shooting spitballs. The beast turned, snarling. The splintered teeth of his lopsided maw clicked together. Just beyond its massive legs, Dalton could see Jill and Sheva scrambling into the brush, out of sight.
The girls were clear. Good. Next, Dalton took note of the biohazard material, all those barrels lined up off to the side. Also good. There was nothing else between him and Big Ole’ Jonah.
The mutated warlord roared yet again, slamming his fists into the ground. Ready to charge, intent to kill.
Just how Dalton liked it.
“I always wanted to slay a giant…” The super soldier muttered. Then he took aim at the monster’s ugly face and squeezed the trigger.