Chapter 69: Dark Waters

A lone coast guard boat was braving the sea in the middle of a storm in the early night. Inside were two occupants. Rick, who was calmly behind the steering wheel piloting the boat, and Jill, who was waiting with a bit of impatience checking the condition of her Beretta.

They couldn’t be more different in attitude. And in looks.

Jill had chosen to travel light. Two tactical knives, her gun plus five spare magazines, a radio and the genesis. Rick on the other hand was geared to survive everything coming his way. One throwing knife at each ankle, his .45 at his right thigh with three spare mags on his left, a shotgun on his back with a bandolier of thirty .12 gauge shells and his tomahawk at his left hip and his every tactical vest loaded with more .45 mags.

“Are you sure you’re armed enough?” Jill finally broke the silence and the tension with a sarcastic remark. “I can see you didn’t take any grenade or flashbangs.”

Rick didn’t look away from the sea, following the coordinates O’Brian had given them. “Ship or submarine, the space will be narrow. Grenades and flashbangs would be more of a hindrance than anything. Especially the latter. Gun fire will echo a lot and I don’t need to be further disoriented or the massive headache caused by a flashbang popping.”

Jill stood up from the crate she was on and walked to his side. “Familiar with battles on a ship?”

He hummed positively. “Don’t remember the Spencer Rain?”

“Redacted as hell but I vaguely remember it was a ship, yes. How bad was it?”

“The worst. Vents everywhere, up and down. Strong echo, making it difficult to pinpoint the origin of a noise and very few options to retreat, avoid or dodge. There is the cluttering too. It was a mess, furniture overturned, sometimes broken but always in the way. It’s honestly one of the worst fields I’ve fought in. The closest I’ve come to dying too. Well… before Harvardville.” His tone was firm and she recognized the memory of the event wasn’t particularly pleasant for him.

“In other words, it’s a death trap.”

“Yeah, but I’m better equipped than the last time.”

“Better equipped?” That surprised Jill. “How can the BSAA have better equipment than the Black Ops?”

His answer was a bit bitter in her opinion. “Because we weren’t armed. It was supposed to be a big black market event.”

Frowning, Jill tried to remember what she had read from the file. “An auction, no?”

“Yeah. We passed ourselves as buyers and weren’t allowed to bring weapons. Everything we used when the outbreak started was from the Umbrella guards. Before that it was big knives we stole from the kitchen. The only thing in common with back then is the pretty partner dressed indecently.” He gave her a side glance with a blank expression.

Of course the comment made Jill frown. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Rick turned his head to look at her from top to bottom. The diving suit the BSAA had given her was simply shameless. Skin tight was a given for the type of mission they were on but that tight? It wasn’t. Not only that but Jill’s breasts were almost bursting out of it, her cleavage being very deep and pushing up. It didn’t help that it was framed by horizontal straps, right below and above them. It was just the front and it wasn’t the worst however.

“Jugs… The only reason I took the steering wheel and not hung back is so I wouldn’t spend the whole trip being distracted by your suit riding between your buttcheeks. Whoever designed that suit is a huge pervert.”

Jill frowned so much she was scowling now. Not at him but at the truth of his words. What she was wearing was really smug. It fitted her perfectly but the material sinking into her buttcrack was a bit too much. She had to abandon the idea of underwear altogether. Bottom and top alike. Effectively, she was naked under the diving suit.

“On the other hand your ass has never looked so amazing.”

She lightly punched his arm. “Who’s the pervert now?”

Rick didn’t answer to put a stop to the banter. His eyes caught sight of a huge shadow breaking the horizon and they needed to focus on the task at hand. He didn’t immediately share the discovery with Jill, with her normal eyesight she wouldn’t have been able to see anything in those conditions.

When it finally came to view, Rick turned the boat slightly and Jill went outside the captain cabin with a grappling gun. She aimed at the rail and shot the hook which secured itself tightly. After tying up the steel cable to the boat she waved at Rick that everything was ready. He turned the engine off and joined her outside.

“It looks like a wreck.” Jill commented.

The ship, whose name ‘Queen Zenobia’ was written in big white letters on it, looked like a ghost ship. Dirty, abandoned and falling a bit apart in some places. The only way to make it more a cliché from a horror story was if it had been a wooden ship of old.

Rick had a slight frown on his face. “I’m getting more and more Spencer Rain vibes.”

“If the blobs escaped from here…”

Jill let her words hang in the air, there was no need for her to jinx them when the situation looked already bad. Rick checked his cell phone and his radio. Both were out of range and wouldn’t permit any communication with O’Brian or the rest of the BSAA in Catania. If they wanted to call someone, they’d have to reach the control room on the other side of the ship. The prospect didn’t enchant him.

“I’m taking point.” He attached his automatic pulley to the cable as he said so.

Jill was of a different mind. “Nuh-huh,” she denied putting her own device in front of his.

“You do know that—”

She cut him off. “Yes, if something is waiting for us then you’re more suited to take care of it. But I refuse to hide behind you.” Putting her hand on the pulley, she gave him a teasing smile. “See it as a training to keep your focus instead of staring at my ass.”

To her surprise, Rick simply nodded instead of giving her a sarcastic reply or a little quip. It was weird but she paid it no mind. Activating the device she was propelled all the way up to the rail of the back of the ship. She got over it, gun drawn, and asserted that there was no danger.

The sound or another pulley from behind getting closer told her Rick was on his way. Soon enough he was standing by her side, shotgun in hand and aimed forward.

“We better hurry. It’s been nearly three hours since Chris and Jessica went under the radar.” Jill began to go up the stairs to the small deck above.

“Hurrying: yes. Rushing: no. Not in this terrain, Jill.” He warned her. “We don’t know the area and what’s awaiting us. If they’re alive after all this time then they have things in hand. If not…”

There was no need for Rick to continue. Either way while they should move fast they should not sacrifice caution for speed. Jill agreed with it.

“That’s a lot of crates for a cruiser—” As she pointed for Rick to see a huge wave hit the ship from the side and made it lean to the side violently. Thankfully Rick grabbed her by the waist and she didn’t move a single inch instead of losing her balance and lurching forward. “Thanks,” she said, putting her hand on his forearm so he would let her go.

“They’re all from the same provider.” Rick paid no mind to what just happened. Using his axe as a crowbar he opened one. It was empty. After trying a couple more he ended up with the same result. One of them had a lone bullet in it. After picking it up, he showed it to Jill.

She recognized it on the spot. “5.76 Nato. Not the kind of thing usually found on a cruiser ship.”

“No. Which is one more point in favor of it being a terrorist base. Since Chris and Jessica are here then the odds of it belonging to Il Veltro are rather substantial.”

Putting the bullet inside a pocket, Rick followed Jill who had already started moving on. They arrived at a heavy door looked by a thick chain and a big lock. She holstered her gun and pulled out her lockpicking tools from the pocket on her left thigh. She tried her very best but failed to open the simple lock. The ship was moving too much for her to work it out properly.

Rick pushed her aside gently, grabbed the chain with both hands and broke it with a powerful tug. He removed everything to clear the door and opened it.

A dumbfounded Jill stayed frozen where she was for a moment then went after him. “That’s nifty if a bit of a cheat.”

Rick had an intrusive thought he kept to himself. ‘You didn’t complain when I fucked you while carrying you as if you weighed nothing the other day.’

Now wasn’t the time for anything else but focusing on the matter at hand. That was why he took the lead when he could. There would be no distraction by looking at Jill’s back. The opportunity to not think of that side of hers presented itself. They were in some kind of storage area. A very messy one.

Despite the room being in total darkness, Rick wasn’t blind one bit. The unbearable stench of decay, rot, fish and blood, was ignored from the liters of blood everywhere on the ground. Walking a bit more inside, he noticed that it wasn’t just blood. It was mixed with something else.

While he examined a broken vent, leaning on top of bags of food, Jill, with her flashlight, explored the other side.

“Found a dead body.” She reported. “I think it’s the crew.”

Rick said nothing, more interested in the vent. It was misshapen a bit as if something too big had crawled inside of it. A white liquid coated all inner sides and pooled at the bottom.

“Jugs.” He called out to her while looking inside the vent as far as he could see.

“Yes?”

“B.O.W. confirmed. They’re using the vent to move around.”

Jill came to his side, flashlight raised. “You have a visual?”

“No and please don’t point your light at my face.” Rick raised his hand to protect his eyes. She did as asked but gave him a curious look who prompted him to release a sigh. “I can see in the dark but a sudden bright light and I’m blind.”

The blank look she gave him would have been priceless in any other situation. “One of those days, we’re going to have a talk about what you can do. Now, show me.”

Rick pointed at the vent and explained what he thought about his discoveries. It wasn’t direct proof but there was no other explanation they could think of. B.O.W were on the loose and it might be an outbreak. It was enough for Jill who began to wonder about what those new bio-weapons were capable of and how different they were from the regular ones made with the T-virus.

When, axe in hand, Rick went to destroy the head of the dead members of the crew. He noticed unusual wounds. For one, there was no blunt trauma and very little cuts. The main wound looked like it had been done by a huge… He didn’t quite know. Something that sucked. Hard. From the state of the bodies, he could tell that there wasn’t any blood left in them.

“That’s curious.” He said aloud without noticing.

“What is?”

“Hm?” He turned to her, quizzingly.

Jill repeated herself. “What is curious?”

“Those… marks… The B.O.W sucked all their bloods but somehow they’re not… infected and turning? That seems… inefficient. Sucking five liters of blood takes time and there is probably an exchange of fluids.”

“What of it?” She didn’t understand what he was thinking.

“Compare it to the hunters. They’re fast, they’re strutting, they’re strong. They kill quickly and move on, all while in small packs. Lickers? Alone or in pairs. Kill quickly too. Zombies? Bad at killing, rather weak in comparison but propagate the virus like crazy. This… new type… It’s not for spreading whatever virus made them and it’s not to kill either. The fact they hadn’t turned or that their killing mode is slow is proof of that. The question is: What’s the point of this kind of B.O.W.?”

Jill had to admit, Rick made a good point. “Perhaps, they’re not… finished products? They escaped and killed the crew before more research on their development could be done?”

Rick raised his tomahawk, “Perhaps,” and destroyed the brain of the crew member without a second thought.

“What did you do that?” His action confused Jill.

Walking towards the next corps he explained himself. “To make sure they wouldn’t get up. If the enemy is down you should always make sure it’s for good if you can. That one crimson head in the Mansion had been enough.

The appellation of the mutated zombie gave her the chill. Back in Spencer Mansion, killing zombies with a bullet to the head had not been enough. The T-virus was still active and mutated the corpses further while reanimating them. The results were a zombie with huge claws and far stronger than average with a crimson head hence the name. To avoid this evolution, there were two ways. One: burning the body to crisp. Two: Completely exploding the head.

Agreeing with Rick’s preventive ways, Jill looked on patiently for him to be done.