was or why either of them was important. 'Just make sure they end up together,' Trent had said – as if Carlos was going to just happen to come across the other one. 'When you find out where the blue one is, you'll get your explanation.'
For as cryptically useless as that seemed to be, Trent had also told him that Umbrella kept two helicopters at the abandoned water treatment plant west and north of the city. Perhaps most useful of all, Trent had said that there was a vaccine being worked on at the city hospi-tal, and while it hadn't been synthesized yet, there was at least one sample there.
'Although there's a good chance the hospital may not be there for much longer,' he'd said, leaving Carlos to wonder again how Trent came by his information.
What was supposed to happen to it? And how would Trent know that?
Trent seemed to think that Carlos's survival was im-portant; he seemed convinced that Carlos was going to be a significant part of the fight against Umbrella, but Carlos still wasn't sure why, or if he even wanted to join up. At the moment, all he wanted was to get out of the city… but for whatever reason Trent had decided to offer up information, Carlos was glad for the help.
Although a little more would've been nice – keys to an armored getaway car, maybe, or some kind of anti- monster spray.
Carlos stood in the kitchen, gazing down at the heavy-looking cover to what was, presumably, the basement ladder. Trent had told him that there were probably more weapons at a clock tower, not far from the hospital; that and the bit about the Umbrella heli-copters, due north from the tower and hospital, defi-nitely useful…
But why let me come here at all if I'm so goddamn important? He could've stopped me on the way to the field office.
A lot of it didn't make sense, and Carlos was willing to bet money that Trent hadn't told him everything. He had no choice but to trust him a little, but he was going to be very careful when it came to depending on Trent's information. Carlos crouched next to the basement entrance, grabbed the handle to the cover, and pulled. It was heavy, but he could just manage it, leaning back and using his leg muscles for leverage. Unless the cooks were body builders, there was probably a crowbar around somewhere. The front door to the restaurant opened and closed. Carlos gently, quietly put the cover aside and turned, still in a crouch, M16 aimed at the dining room en-trance. He didn't think the zombies were coordinated enough to open doors, but he had no idea what the monsters were capable of, or who else might be wan-dering the city streets. Slow, stealthy footsteps moved toward the kitchen. Carlos held his breath, thinking about Trent, wondering suddenly if he'd been set up…… and about the last thing he expected to see was a.357 revolver come around the corner, held by an at-tractive and extremely serious-looking young woman who moved in fast and low and aimed at Carlos before
he could blink.For a beat they stared at each other, neither moving,and Carlos could see in the woman's eyes that shewouldn't hesitate to shoot him if she thought it neces-sary. Since he felt pretty much the same way, he de-cided it might be best to introduce himself.'My name is Carlos,' he said evenly. 'I'm no zom-bie. Take it easy, huh?'
The girl studied him another moment, then noddedslowly, lowering the revolver. Carlos took his finger offthe rifle's trigger and did the same as they bothstraightened up, moving carefully.'Jill Valentine,' she said, and seemed about to saysomething else when the back door to the restaurantcrashed open, the thundering sound matched by a gut-tural, barely human scream that raised the hairs on theback of Carlos's neck.'Sstaarrsss!' whatever it was howled, the cry echo-ing through the restaurant, giant footsteps pounding to-ward them, relentless and certain.
TEN
THERE WAS NO TIME FOR QUESTIONS, NO time to wonder how it had found her so quickly. Jill motioned for the young guy to get behind her and backed into the dining room as he hurried past; she des-perately looked around for something she could use to distract it long enough for them to escape. They ducked behind the service bar, Carlos moving as though he had some experience; he at least had the good sense to keep quiet as the S.T.A.R.S. killer charged into the kitchen, still screaming. Fire! A guttering oil lamp sat on a cart next to the counter. Jill didn't hesitate; it would reach them in sec-onds if she didn't act immediately, and maybe a little burning oil would slow it down. She motioned for Carlos to stay put, scooped up the lamp and stood, leaning over the counter and cocking her arm back. The hulking Nemesis had just started across the expansive kitchen when she threw the lamp at it, grunting with the effort it took to make the dis-tance. The lamp flew, and then everything slowed to a near stop, so much happening at once that her mind fed it to her one event at a time. The lamp shattered at the mon-ster's feet, glass and oil splashing and puddling, a tiny lake of spreading fire; the creature raised its massive fists, screaming in anger; Carlos yelled something and grabbed her waist, pulling her down, the clumsy move-ment toppling them both to the floor
and there was a mighty clap of brilliance andsound that she'd suffered once already since waking up,a displacement of air that slapped at her eardrums, andCarlos was trying to shield her, holding her head down,saying something in rapid Spanish as time sped up tonormal and something started to burn.
God, again? The whole city's going to blow up atthis rate… The thought was vague, disoriented, hermind muddled until she remembered to breathe. A deepinhalation and Jill pushed Carlos's arm away and stood,needing to see.The kitchen was blasted, blackened, utensils andcookware everywhere. She saw several canisters lean-ing against the back wall, one of them the obvioussource of the explosion, its smoking metal sides peeledback like jagged petals. Rancid smoke curled up fromthe smoldering body on the floor, the Nemesis laid outlike a fallen giant, its black clothes singed and burnt. Itdidn't move.'No offense, but are you batshit?' Carlos asked, star-ing at her as though the question was rhetorical. 'Youcould've barbecued us both!'
Jill watched the Nemesis, ignoring him, the.357 aimed at its still legs; its head and upper body were blocked by a low shelf. The blast had been powerful, but after all she'd been through, she knew better than to assume anything.
Shoot, shoot it while it's down, you may not have an-other chance…
The Nemesis twitched, a slight jerk of the fingers on the hand she could see, and Jill's nerve fled. She wanted out, she wanted to be far away before it sat up, before it shook off the effects of the explosion, as it surely would. 'We have to get out of here, now,' she said, turning to Carlos. Young, good-looking, obviously unnerved by the blast, he hesitated, then nodded, holding his assault rifle tightly to his chest. It looked like an M16, military, and he was dressed for combat – a very good sign. Hope there's more where you came from, Jill thought, heading for the door at a brisk pace, Carlos right behind her. She had a lot of questions for him and realized that he probably had a few for her, too… but they could talk somewhere else. Anywhere else. As soon as they were outside, Jill couldn't stop her-self; she broke into a run, the young soldier pacing her, hurrying through the cool dark of the dead city as she wondered if there was anyplace left where they could be safe. The girl, Jill, ran a full block before slowing down.
She seemed to know where they were going, and it was obvious that she'd had some kind of combat training; cop, maybe, though she sure as hell wasn't in uniform. Carlos was desperately curious but saved his breath, concentrating instead on keeping up with her. From the restaurant they ran downhill, past the the-ater Trent had mentioned, taking a right at a decorative fountain at the end of the block; another half block and Jill signaled at a door on the left for a standard sweep. Carlos nodded, standing to one side of the door, rifle up. Jill pulled the handle and Carlos stepped in, ready to fire at anything that moved, Jill covering him. They were in some kind of a warehouse, at the end of a walkway that T-ed some fifteen meters ahead. It seemed to be clear. 'It should be all right,' Jill said quietly. 'I came through this way a few minutes ago.' 'Better safe than sorry, though, right?' Carlos said, keeping the rifle up but feeling some of the tension leave his body. She was definitely a pro. They edged into the warehouse, carefully checking it out before saying another word. It was cold and not very well lit, but it didn't smell as bad as most of the rest of the city and by standing at the T junction in the middle of the warehouse, they'd be able to see anything coming well before it got to them. In all, it felt like the safest place he'd been since the helicopter.
'I'd like to ask you something, if you don't mind,'
Jill said, finally turning her full attention to him. Carlos opened his mouth and the words just spilled out. 'You want to ask me out, right? It's the accent, chicks love the accent. You hear it and you just can't help yourselves.'
Jill stared at him, eyes wide, and for a moment hethought he'd made a mistake, that she wouldn't realizehe was kidding. It was a stupid call, joking around inthese circumstances. Just as he was about to apologize,one
