Missing comrades and teasing brothers
When we returned the foyer, we looked around in confusion. Where were Jill and daddy? Spotting Jill's Samurai Edge Beretta lying on the ground, Chris rushed over to it and picked it up.
"Why would Jill leave her gun?" I asked as I walked over, making Chris shrug. "I'm not sure, but I'm going to give you a crash course in handling a gun," Chris said as he handed me the spare I had given him earlier.
"Remember, do not point this at something you aren't going to shoot." He warned as he stood behind me to correct my stance, making me aim at a bust on the other side of the foyer.
After about a thirty-minute session and Chris was satisfied with my aim, he walked over to the front doors and let a Cerberus in for me to practice on a moving target.
"Good job, you're a natural." Chris praised when I killed the Cerberus in one shot to the head.
"I have a good teacher. Now let's not waste any more ammo. Shall we check out what's in that room over there?" I blushed, pointing over to the white door on the right side of the grand staircase.
"Sure, and a good idea about the ammo," Chris said as we began searching the gallery room. Looking at the statue, I saw something poking out of the vase I called out to Chris, who'd gone into the storage area, "Chris, I need a boost, there is something inside the statue's vase!" before Chris ran out with an infected on his heels, the word zombie sounding like a cliche in my head. Thinking quick, I pulled a throwing knife out of my arm brace, I threw it and nailed the infected between the eyes.
"One, where in the hell do you keep all those knives! I mean really, you're wearing skinny jeans and a form-fitting thermal undershirt! And two, do you think is in the vase?" He said as he retrieved my knife.
"Well, in order of asked, you don't need to know, and I want to find out. For all, we know it could be a map of the mansion of all things." I answered as I put the knife back in my arm brace; hearing my answer, Chris chuckled before bending so I could get onto his shoulders and lifted me with little effort.
"How is it that you eat the most out of everyone on team dinner night and not weigh a ton? I think you're 90 pounds wet!" Chris teased, making me "Gibbs slap" him before reaching for the object in the vase.
When I was back on the ground, I opened the folded paper, and what I saw made me groan, "You've got to be kidding me! I was joking!"
Chris, curious about my reaction, took the paper from me and laughed. The reason? It was, in fact, a map of the first floor of the mansion.
"At least it's useful, oracle girl." Chris joked, making me groan. I had this uncanny habit of predicting what mysterious objects could end up being. So far, my predictions had been 70/30, making Joseph, Chris, and Kevin call me "oracle girl."
"Shut. It." I growled before reaching into my pack and pulling out three pens, a blue, a green, and a purple. At Chris' questioning look, I explained, "I'll mark the rooms in one of the three colors. Ones we clear will be blue, ones we clear but leave items within will be green, and rooms with enemies will be purple."
"Sounds good, we should head back into the foyer, the door over there is locked," Chris suggested jabbing his thumb at the white door in the back of the room.
As we backtracked through the foyer and dining hall, I grabbed the wooden emblem above the fireplace and told Chris, "I'll place items in my pack aside from weapons and ammo. You never know if something could be important." at his intrigued look, making him nod.
"Okay, if you need ammo for your gun, tell me," he ordered as he picked up some handgun ammo from a table with a birdcage in the room past the hall, we found Kenneth in while I picked up the two green herbs.
It was when I turned around that I saw the corpse on the floor right behind where Chris was standing, causing me to whisper, "Chris, behind you!" Hearing the urgency in my voice, Chris slowly turned around with his knife drawn and carefully kneeling next to it.
"This one's dead looks like it was instant. Could the T-virus do this?"
"I don't know, but let's mark it was here, just in case it reanimates later," I ordered as we ascended the stairs, deep down I had a feeling it would.
As we explored the mansion, we came across several objects that Chris would later tell me were extremely helpful.
Things like:
- a golden arrow with a poor man's emerald arrowhead
- ammo
- a broken shotgun
- some old keys
- a blue gem from a statue we smashed
- a sword key which opened doors with a sword on them
- ink ribbons
- a fuel flask we used to burn infected corpses
- a chemical of some sort I was sure was weed killer in powder form
- the working shotgun we got by switching it for the broken one
- and plenty of all three herbs.
But it was after we unlocked all but one door we ran into living members of Bravo; Richard and Rebecca, the backup and medic, respectively. When Chris left for the medical room to get serum for Richard's snakebite (and what kind of snake did that to a man's leg), I stayed with them to help keep Richard stable.
"Becca, whose tags are those? I've never seen you with them before." I asked, making her jump and fiddle with the dog tags.
"Oh, these? After the copter went down, we found an overturned MP vehicle and a transport file for one Billy Coen; we started searching for him when I found a train overrun with these monsters. Billy is dead, killed by the monsters, they're his tags." She explained, but the way her heartbeat spiked to my sensitive hearing told me she was lying, as did the blush on her face.
This Billy must have helped her if she was lying for him.
"I see, then the military will be happy," I said as Chris returned with the serum. "Good timing, let's get him to the medical room," I ordered, and Chris helped me pick Richard up to carry him to the medical room as Rebecca kept an eye on his vitals.