Chapter 75: The Survival Hierarchy

After the place was stripped of every useful resource, Raymond was woken up and allowed to dress up before his hands were tied up once more. He didn't fight or try to escape, which was a smart choice when Rachel was aiming at him with her brand new MP5.

"Is that really necessary?" He asked when Rick wrapped both his wrists together.

The dirty blonde man replied emotionlessly. "No. It's to protect you. From Rachel or me. Keep you in line because you'd be dead before you go farther than ten feet if you suddenly get the idea to run."

"Please, do." Rachel asked nicely. Too nicely.

Inwardly Rick chuckled. A pissed off Rachel wasn't something he'd wish on anyone. She could be quite vicious when she wanted to. Thankfully this was a line very hard to cross and it didn't happen often. Just like him, Rachel rolled with the punches. Survival first and foremost. Vengeance? Revenge? Maybe later if it didn't get in the way of the primary objective of staying alive. However sometimes… Sometimes survival came second. Being more or less left to die by Raymond was one of those times.

They left the Doctor Station and back tracked all the way back to the kitchen. Jill took point and simply put down the few Oozes on the way with the shotgun. It surprised her that she needed two shots in the chest to bring one down. One to the head if the Ooze was relatively close did the trick however.

It was clear that these creatures were more durable and far more dangerous than a regular zombie. Rick's precautions to destroy the head of every corpse they had encountered so far sounded like a smart decision to the former STARS now.

"I can't wait to meet with the more mutated versions." Rick's tone was clearly sarcastic.

Jill was of the same mind. She definitely didn't want to have such an encounter.

"You had to jinx us, didn't you?" Raymond commented from behind Rick.

Rachel sighed from the back. "Ahh, rookies."

Jill gave a look to Raymond. "Not been in many viral outbreaks?" It was more a statement than a question but she was nice about it.

The redhead frowned. "Terragrigia was my first and I went through three more."

"Hm… definitely a rookie."

While Jill focused her attention back forward, Rachel had her own comment. "There are always more mutated versions. It's a tacit rule."

"There wasn't in Terragrigia," Raymond defended.

"Because Terragrigia wasn't a proper outbreak. It was a bio-terrorist attack and the response was immediate. The B.O.W. were too busy being attacked to do more than kill and infect people. Things would have been vastly different otherwise." Rick explained.

"That makes me think, how many did you guys experience?" Rachel chimed in. "It's a question for everyone. Counting today, I'm at fifteen."

That didn't surprise Jill much. Since Rachel had been Rick's partner and he was discharged with sixteen under his belt among which five were before his enlisting, it made sense her number was so high. It also drove home how competent the woman was.

Raymond was utterly shocked however. "Fifteen?! There is no way that's possible. Only eleven have been recorded by the F.B.C."

"Oh, Raymond…" The blonde woman said with an amused tone. "The F.B.C. is a joke. It was barely created that almost a dozen had already happened. Jill? How many?"

Jill turned at a corner, weapons aimed and checked the end of the corridor was clear. "Eight." She walked forward and Raymond could believe it as she was well known in the counter bio-terrorism circles.

"Huh, so Rick is the one in the lead? You really have the worst of luck."

Rachel tried to involve her best friend but it didn't work. Not at first. Rick simply pushed the call button for the elevator whose doors immediately opened. It was the only way for Raymond to have been able to get to this floor. He would have found him if he was hiding somewhere and all other exits and entrances had been barred.

"Come on! Share a little!"

Rick pushed the button for the floor below and sighed. "You know how many, Rachel."

"Not all of them. I know about Harvardville and WilPharma but I'm only aware because you called me for help."

After taking a deep breath he exalted longly. "22."

"Now I know you're bullshitting me." Raymond interjected.

"I don't care what you think."

"Oh, it's true." Rachel grinned while pushing Raymond forward with her MP5 then changed the subject slightly. "Worst one of them?"

Jill didn't mean to do it but she considered the question. It was either the mansion or Raccoon City. The latter had been awful, especially when she had her own special and juiced Tyrant on her ass during the whole ordeal. Nemesis had been the most difficult bio-weapon she had to take down so far and had been quite the nightmare. She wasn't just thinking about it being the most unrelenting stalker ever but also his constant mutations.

On the other hand the Spencer Mansion had been quite horrific. Her first outbreak. Her first experience with the horrors of B.O.W. The whole building and its traps were already a thing from hell in the first place but the zombies, the hunters, the giant spiders and snakes… Raccoon City, she was already experienced but the mansion? She was a rookie in fighting bio-weapons.

'Definitely Spencer mansion.' She concluded to herself.

Before anyone could give an answer, the elevator arrived at its destination and the doors opened. What awaited them was the underbelly of the ship. Not the actual underbelly but one of the parts of the ship inaccessible to anyone but the members of the crew. At first glance, the dirty walls and the lack of any kind of luxury made Rick think of being near the engine or boiler room.

"What's this way?" He asked Raymond while letting Jill leave the elevator first.

The redhead walked after him while being forthcoming with an answer. "A lift to the lower parts of the Queen Zenobia. You need a keep to activate the lift for that though and I don't have it. There is also a… passage leading to the VIP room of the casino through walkable vents."

Rachel had her own question. "And? How does that lead us to the bridge?"

"Beyond the Casino is the Main Hall." Raymond explained. "It's the core of the whole ship, linked to most areas of it. To get to the bridge we need to go through it and reach the cabins where there is an elevator going up. But it's unnecessary, up the Main Hall is the Emergency Communication Room."

"That sounds almost too easy." Rick realized.

Jill thought the same thing. "That's not counting the Oozes that would probably be on and in our way."

After turning at the very first corner they encountered, the group arrived at a wide space that reminded Rick of a boiler room. The lift was hard to miss and he checked the control panel. Raymond had been telling the truth, a key was needed to activate it. Something that Rick found not only curious but suspicious. Clearly there was something down the ship that only a few could have access to. Considering it was an Il Veltro base, in his opinion, it was nothing good.

To the right of the area was an inactive fan. Behind it, was revealed a pathway high and wide enough for people to go through. A ladder led everyone down to arrive at some kind of junction between two areas. It was a narrower and short tunnel with only another ladder as an exit. Raymond had asked to have his hand untied so he could climb up but was denied. His ascension would just be longer.

They arrived immediately into the VIP room of the casino. There was one side table against the right wall mounted by a mirror above and with expensive alcohol bottles. On the left was the rest of the room. In the middle was a poker table, with cards everywhere. At the end wall was a long and comfy leather couch lighted by the glow of the security camera screens on the wall right next to it.

The first thing Rachel and Rick did was rummaged through the whole space, like starving homeless people searching for food inside the dumpster of a restaurant. The former found a box of rifle ammo and eight shotgun shells she gave to Jill. The ex-STARS loaded them to her bandolier around her waist and put the surplus inside the pouch at her back.

Rick found fifteen 9mm bullets he tucked away and went to work on making some molotovs cocktails. He had made a few strips of cotton clothes by cutting a lab coat he had found in one of the Doctor Station's lockers.

"Really?" Jill voiced her disbelief when she saw him do that. "You're making some molotovs now? Why not earlier? There was plenty of alcohol in there."

It was Rachel who explained it to her. "Desinfectant should not be wasted."

With the free space he had on him, Rick only made two cocktails although he could have made for two more. He sincerely regretted that the BSAA temporary HQ had no military backpack. Something he'd had to talk with O'Brian at his return once the mission was over.

After stepping out of the VIP Room, they were fully inside the casino now. Lights were off and the electric box was directly on the side. When Jill went to pull the lever up, Rick stopped her.

"Having lights to see better is not worth the noise the whole place will make."

She disagreed but went along. Rick was far more experienced in fighting B.O.W. on the ship than she was and followed his lead. Thankfully, the whole place was empty and devoid of any Oozes, so the light of a flashlight was more than enough.

Climbing up the stairs at the other end, they went through a double door with a huge compass on it. To unlock, the needle on the compass turned a few times by itself. Rick wondered how the automatism worked for an instant then let it go. After opening another identical door, they were confronted with a metallic gate with bars.

"A symbol of an—" Jill was interrupted by Rachel who put a key inside the lock and turned it. Its hilt was shaped as an anchor.

"Raymond had it on him." the blonde explained with a shrug.

Rick crouched down and effortlessly raised the gate all the way up. Raymond had a dubious and concerned look when he saw that. It was obvious Rick had quite the strength in his arms to do what he did so easily. That made him wonder if Rick hadn't simply just punched him to unconsciousness every time. The redhead never remembered how he got knocked out but he did know his forehead hurt badly each time he woke up.

With the gate gone, the group properly stepped inside the Main Hall. A spacious and circular place with a door on each side and one in front. On top of that, there was an open second floor. Jill, shotgun aimed, had a look around on her left, while Rick checked the right and Rachel, still pointing her MP5 at Raymond, watched the second floor.

"I think we're good." Rick announced and both of his female companions lowered their weapons. "Next?" He asked Raymong.

The spy pointed at the ceiling directly above. "If I remember correctly, we need to take the stairs."

Rick let him lead the way, Rachel right behind her fellow F.B.C. agent. It didn't take long for them to arrive in front of a locked door with the symbol of a buoy on it. On the door was a note from the Communication Officer. The man had the key with him and went to the Promenade area when the outbreak started as the area had lots of food. He intended to hole up there.

Everyone heard Rick take a long and very deep breath and turned to him to see what was going on. It was just a minor setback that in no way should pissed him off that much, Jill and Rachel were well aware.

"I swear, if that ship had been designed by Gorge Trevor or one of his relatives…" He began to walk back towards the stairs. "I will wipe their whole family off the face of Earth and I won't care if there are toddlers among the lot."

"Is… he alright?" Raymond doubted Rick had all his mind. Not after that episode in the Doctor Station.

"He is." Jill chuckled, understanding Rick's frustration.

Rachel got curious about something else however. "You know who that Trevor guy is?"

"Geroge Trevor was an architect. It was him that designed the Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains and the Police Station in Raccoon City. Deadly traps and secret passages everywhere. Doors that could only be opened by one specific and different key, usually hidden in improbable places and with more traps."

"Ooooh." Rachel immediately got why Rick was utterly pissed. "That makes sense."

Raymond wasn't of the same mind. "It doesn't."

Jill filled him in with a bitter tone. "There was an outbreak in the Spencer Mansion in July 98. It belonged to one of Umbrella's founders. Most of the STARS met their end there because of the B.O.W. unleashed against us to test their viability in battle. Rick was present by coincidence. As for the R.P.D. he found himself locked there the night the city got nuked. From what I know of what happened there… It had been quite an ordeal. Only three people made it out alive mainly because of the way the building and its doors were designed."

In her opinion, the building had not been that bad when she had visited it a few days before Rick did. Easier to navigate than the Mansion. Partly because she knew the place like the back of her hand. On the other hand, in the Mansion she didn't have Lickers and a Tyrant on her heels. Jill would still rate escaping and surviving the R.P.D. as an easier task than the Mansion but not by much.

"So he… got flashbacks because of the doors and keys?" Raymond realized.

"Pretty much. God, I hope the ship has not been made by a Trevor because I don't want to go through that kind of bullshit again. Once was enough."

From up the stairs, Jill had a good view of Rick opening another double door with a compass on it. She inwardly sighed to herself to know that they won't have to make a detour to find another key to open that one.