Instinct

It was only Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers that survived the mansion incident long enough to board the chopper piloted by Brad Vickers.

Tempers would have flared against the coward if only they weren't so tired and drained.

--

-In the S.T.A.R.S. Helicopter, Above Spencer Mansion, Raccoon Forest-

Chris gave a disapproving scowl in the cockpit's direction.

“Chickenheart just had to leave us there...”

Neither Jill nor Rebecca made any attempt to reprimand him; they all felt the same way.

Rebecca was literally attached to Jill, holding onto the woman's arm like a lifeline. She began to tremble, so Jill weakly lifted her arm to wrap around Rebecca's shoulders; the poor kid was beyond terrified.

“It's okay, Rebecca, it's over now”, Jill whispered. Rebecca just nodded weakly.

As the S.T.A.R.S. Helicopter hit a small bump, Jill gave an agonized groan.

“Jill? What is it?”, Chris asked quickly in unison with Rebecca, whose voice shook with nerves.

“Ughh...m-my neck...I think Wesker just threw me into that cell, literally”, Jill moaned, removing her hand from Rebecca to caress a bruised section of her neck, already turning about four different colors.

“Well, don't poke it any more”, Chris chuckled, but stopped when he saw Jill roll her eyes, both with annoyance and what appeared to be fatigue. Taking a second glance, he noticed a small patch of red beneath her jugular.

“Hey, can you look up for a sec? I think you're bleeding.”

“Wha? Uh, yeah”, Jill responded vaguely, weakly lifting her head, her eyelids drooping.

Rebecca left Jill's arms, hovering slightly over her. Chris gently gripped Jill's chin, lifting it up to see beneath. He bit back a gasp.

There was a large patch of red, alright.

A giant scrape, followed by several tiny rivers of blood, adorned her lower mandible. The blood was still shimmering along with the faint coating of sweat, irritating the skin further.

“Rebecca, you have your medkit on you?”, Chris asked softly.

“Yeah, right here”, Rebecca handed him her entire satchel with a small sniffle. She wasn't sure she'd have a steady enough hand to properly clean and address Jill's wound, and Chris seemed to understand, as he gave her a gentle smile in response.

“Alright, I'm gonna clean that wound. It'll sting, but it's better than it getting infected”, Chris informed Jill, placing his hand on hers.

She just nodded, too tired to say otherwise.

Chris immediately opened up the small satchel, taking out an antibacterial cream, some gauze pads, peroxide and medical tape. He got to work, dousing the gauze in the peroxide.

“Tilt your head back, please.”

Jill reclined, allowing Chris to gently rub the ragged, bleeding scrape. She winced slightly as her sensitive wound began to sting. A small, white froth bubbled across the scrape.

“Sorry”, Chris murmured, trying to cover the entire area without causing her undue pain.

Jill was a tough woman with a high pain threshold; she wouldn't let pain get the best of her wits. Still, she couldn't deny that the alcoholic substance was exceedingly painful. She bit her lip as the pain escalated, trying not to let her eyes water.

Noticing Jill's pained grimace, Chris took out a bandage and applied a dab of the anti-bacterial cream. Gently and carefully, he placed the bandage over the scrape. Jill let out an enormous sigh of relief as the burning sensation died off.

“How's it feel?”, Chris asked, offering a reassuring smile.

“Better, thanks”, Jill returned the smile with a soft sigh; she was exhausted.

“Sorry, I-I w-would have done it if--”

“Rebecca, it's alright, Jill interrupted softly. Don't worry about it, just relax, okay?”

Jill motioned for the girl to sit beside her. She wrapped her arm around Rebecca's shoulders, pulling the medic into a gentle, almost maternal hug.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be the spark to set the emotional fuse off in the terrified young girl.

“Jill...I-I t-tried my best...I couldn't save them...Richard...I j-just couldn't get it fast enough. He c-could have lived if I'd just--”

Rebecca broke off, sobbing bitterly as she realized that it was her inexperience that cost Richard Aiken, a close colleague of the girl, his life. But how was she supposed to know that the poison would act so fast? She did try her best, but her best just wasn't enough.

“No...Rebecca...please, don't cry, there's nothing you could have done”, Jill hushed her softly, hugging her close as she saw the tears cascade down the young girl's face.

Chris walked over, placing his hand on her quivering back. He looked over at Jill with a hopeless expression on his face. She reciprocated the look and gently hushed Rebecca as she cried softly.

“It's okay, honey, it's over now”, Jill whispered gently, softly stroking Rebecca's hair, desperate to calm the poor kid down.

“We're right here”, Chris added, gently rubbing Rebecca's shoulder.

“I-I know...”, Rebecca whispered through her tears. Can...can we all stay together tonight? Like, in a hotel or something? I'm sorry...”

“Rebecca, there's no need to be, Jill spoke up softly, gently brushing a few tears off the girl's cheeks with her fingertips. Of course we can. We've gotta give Chief Irons a report first, though.”

“I don't like him, he scares me”, Rebecca responded with a shudder in her voice, slowly wiping the rest of her tears away.

“I know he's a real beast sometimes, but we'll get through it, I promise”, Jill whispered gently.

--

-RPD headquarters, Chief Irons' office, Raccoon City-

“Ah, I was expecting you earlier, but...”

The stocky, overweight police chief gawked at the only remaining members of the entire S.T.A.R.S. Team; a marksman and mechanic from Alpha Team, that timid medic, the “new kid” from Bravo, and the cowardly pilot, Brad Vickers.

Jill looked fairly composed, despite her bloodstained face. Chris was tense, his fists balled defensively. Rebecca was partially hidden behind Chris, unprepared to face the irritable man's wrath. Brad was pale and unresponsive.

“Wh-wha....what the hell happened in that mansion? Where's the rest of the team?”, Irons demanded obnoxiously.

“Well, I guess Brad hadn't contacted you prior to our arrival”, Chris murmured irritably, stepping protectively in front of Jill and Rebecca. Brad shrank back as Chris shot him a deadly glare.

We lost nearly our entire squad in that hellhouse, and our captain turned out to be the mastermind behind this whole disaster!”, Chris bellowed. He emphasized this point with a bit more zeal and anger than he originally intended, but Irons seemed more concerned about what the marksman had to say about Albert Wesker.

“Chris Redfield, are you trying to tell me that Albert Wesker has betrayed the R.P.D and gone off to plot evil schemes instead? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

Jill had just about enough at that point.

“I don't care how ridiculous it sounds, it happened!, Jill barked. He was about to feed us to his twisted science experiment when Rebecca got there just in time to put a few rounds into it!”

“Ah, so Officer Chambers saved the day, is that it?”, Irons retorted, his anger escalating quickly. Well, maybe she saved your sorry asses, but she also aided and abetted in the destruction of a secret Umbrella experiment.”

“So you knew!, Chris exploded, charging the pudgy man with his fist dangerously close to the man's face. You knew this was going to happen. You didn't bother to even warn us!”

“Alpha Team should never have gone after Bravo when they lost contact, they were way in over their heads”, Irons explained calmly, trying to keep his temper in check.

Now it was Rebecca's turn to get angry. Richard, Edward, Kenneth, Enrico, just about all of Bravo Team...they all died because of one man's selfishness?

“W-what? Are-are you saying that we're just y-your little rats to play with?!”, Rebecca nearly roared, her previous, timid manner melted away to reveal a much more volatile, bad-tempered woman. Her voice shook with seething anger, something that no one else in that room had ever seen in the timid little medic before, and her fists became so tightly clenched she though she'd open her wrists with her nails.

“Those were our friends, and you let them just die! You bastard!”

Rebecca drew her Samurai Edge pistol in a rage, the barrel jammed into Irons' temple.

“Rebecca, no!”, Both Chris and Jill yelled simultaneously, grabbing the gun from the girl's hands and pinning her arms behind her back.

Irons leaped up, his heart pounding violently against his chest. That little girl was just about ready to put a bullet through his brain! He looked down at Rebecca, who was now panting hard, her eyes glazed over with pure, seething hatred.

“Well, Miss Chambers, I'm going to let you off easy, because this has been a traumatic experience for you, for all of you. But don't think I won't remember this”, Irons sneered condescendingly, rubbing his temple where Rebecca's pistol was thrust so violently.

“Now, all of you, get the hell out of my office.”

--

-Room 519, Holiday Inn, Raccoon City-

“I can't believe I did that, Rebecca moaned, her face stubbornly cupped in her hands. What was I thinking?”

“You were angry, we all are”, Jill reasoned, sitting beside Rebecca on the small bed.

The room wasn't much, but it would be enough until the ragtag group could get their shit together, so to speak. Two full-sized beds, a sixteen inch television, a small bathroom; they didn't pay much for it.

“Believe me, I wanted to do the same thing”, Chris chuckled softly, trying to inject a note of humor into their otherwise deadly serious situation.

“Yeah”, Rebecca yawned, falling back onto the bed with a heavy sigh.

“I think we should get some rest, Jill stated softly. We're all tired.”

“Yeah, I'll take the floor”, Chris piped up.

“What? No, I'll-I'll take the floor!”, Rebecca argued. You'll need the bed more than I do.”

“No way are we gonna make you sleep on the floor, Rebecca”, Jill gently interjected. You take one bed, and Chris and I will share the other.”

Jill blushed slightly after having said that; Chris just looked enormously shocked.

“Alright, but we should probably wash up, first”, he managed to say after an awkward silence.

--

Rebecca was curled up beneath the warm blankets. It was difficult to tell whether or not she was sleeping, as her brow furrowed and she tossed and turned.

Jill sympathetically ran her hand through Rebecca's short auburn hair, brushing a few locks out of her face.

“Goodnight”, She whispered softly, pulling the covers up to Rebecca's neck.

Jill slowly climbed into the bed where Chris had just settled in. As she scuttled beneath the blankets, she heard him groan slightly.

“Chris? Are you alright?”, Jill asked, gently grasping his shoulder. She fought back the impulse to retract it when she realized her hand was placed upon his bare skin. She flushed red as the heat from his body slowly transferred to her.

“Mmm, yeah, just turned the wrong way”, he mumbled, slowly massaging his thumb. Jill heard a 'pop' and he let out another groan.

“Chris, what did you do?”

“I think I dislocated my thumb”, he moaned softly. Hurts like a bitch.”

“Let me see it”, Jill inquired gently, leaning over him slightly.

“Can you relocate it?”, he whispered, almost pleadingly.

Jill was quite shocked at this point. Chris wasn't a man driven by his ego or his pride, but he rarely ever asked for help with his personal injuries.

“Y-yeah, just brace yourself, it's gonna hurt”, Jill warned him, gently grasping his thumb, ready to pop it back into place.

“Bring it”, he chuckled, masking the grimace in his voice.

“Okay, Chris, better start thinking happy thoughts right about now”, Jill returned his humor gently.

After a short countdown, Jill quickly bent his thumb back into its proper socket. Chris held back a yelp, which came out as a gasp. He gave a relieved sigh as the throbbing sensation died down.

“Ahh...thanks, Jill”, he murmured, rotating him thumb to make sure it was properly relocated.

“No problem”, Jill gave a soft sigh before cuddling up next to Chris, her face gently pressed into his shoulder.

Chris felt his heart swell slightly; Jill must have liked him a great deal to be so close to him. But something didn't feel right...was she trembling?

“Jill, are you okay? You're shaking...”, he asked gently, turning her body so that her face was to his.

“I...uh...I guess I'm just a little spooked”, Jill whispered with a tremor in her normally calm voice.

Chris knew she wasn't just a little spooked; even in the dim light, he could see her face was deathly pale, and her lips quivered ever so slightly.

“Okay, I lied, I'm scared shitless”, Jill quickly corrected herself when she saw the dubious expression on Chris' face. Stay with me...please.”

“Hey, I'm not going anywhere, Chris replied, tenderly wrapping his arm around her trembling shoulders. You're safe now.”

Moments before, Jill thought she was going to start crying from pure fright. Now, she felt as though Chris had taken all her anxiety and inner anguish away, however momentarily.

Jill snuggled into Chris' bare chest, placing her hands upon it. He recoiled slightly.

“Your hands are freezing”, he whispered, engulfing them in his own, rubbing them softly to warm her up.

Jill sighed softly at Chris' gentleness, secretly thanking God that he'd made it out along with her and Rebecca. She had a feeling they'd be sticking together for awhile.

“Thanks, Chris, for everything”, Jill murmured, leaning up to softly peck his cheek.

“Hey, no problem”, he replied, still slightly stunned from her gentle kiss. He tucked the blankets around them both and gently ran his fingers through her hair.

“Get some rest now, okay? I'll be right here”, Chris cuddled her closer, his heat alone a reassurance.

“Yeah, you too, Jill replied. You've gotta sleep, too.”

“I know, mom”, Chris chuckled in gentle sarcasm.  

Jill gave him a playful swat before snuggling up to Chris' chin, resting her head near his collarbone.

Chris felt her warm breath flood his neck with her heat, and he loved every second of it. When he was sure she had drifted off to sleep, Chris leaned over and kissed Jill's cheek ever so softly. He smiled as she seemed to be grinning in her sleep.

“I love you, Jill”, he whispered before allowing himself to lapse into a well-deserved rest.