How We Got Here - Resident Evil 1

1

Barry kicked open the door, grunting as he whipped his magnum around the swinging entrance, narrowing his eyes. Jill aimed up her pistol, entering shortly behind him.

Barry slowly lowered his magnum as the pair realized they were alone. Jill's eyes dropped from her antagonized gaze and her jaw dropped slightly as she took in their surroundings.

The room they entered was huge, with a balcony wrapping around the second story. A large dining table took up the length of the room, and a grand fireplace crackled lightly at the end of it.

Old paintings decked the maroon walls, each one of a blurry landscape or a portrait of someone Jill didn't know. A tall grandfather clocked ticked on the right wall, only emphasizing the migraine forming in Jill's head.

Jill slowly holstered her gun, her eyes darting around the room. "Someone's here." Barry's booming voice interrupted her static mind, and Jill lifted her nervous gaze to meet his dark eyes clouded with worry.

Barry gestured to the fireplace before shaking his head and pocketing his magnum as he stepped slowly around the dining table, his eyes dragging along each ornate wooden chair pushed up against the tablecloth.

"It was to my understanding that this mansion had been long abandoned. Wasn't owned by anyone since some bureaucrat in the 1800's." Barry chuckled, stopping to trace the red table runner than ran across the stretch of wood.

He placed his hands on his hips, looking up to a portrait directly across from him, of a man with a monocle and pocket watch held in his hand. "At least that's what Captain Wesker said. Probably right, considering he's-"

"Are we seriously talking about this right now?"

Barry's eyes widened and his cheeky smile dropped as he slowly tilted his head to look at Jill, who hadn't moved from where they entered.

Her fists were clenched and tears started forming in her eyes. She glared at Barry for a moment before shaking her head and wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. She slowly started to walk toward him, averting her eyes from his.

"Chris is still out there. Barry, I watched Joseph die." She murmured shakily, her breath faltering.

"You know, he told me to run? As he was being eaten up by those dogs and as he was bleeding to death, he told me to run so I wouldn't end up like him."

Jill huffed and crossed her arms. "And now we're sitting pretty in some pimped out mansion talking about interior design like none of that happened. Like..."

She paused to take a quick and shaky breath.

"...Like cowards."

Barry's lips tightened and he looked down to the floor in embarrassment and sorrow. "Jill-"

"No, it's fine. I guess just, screw them, right...?" Jill held her arms up and chuckled with sarcasm as she moved past Barry, still looking down at the ground.

"Jill, we'll die if we go back out there. We need to wait. Captain Wesker said-"

"I know what he said." Jill grumbled, whipping around to look at Barry, her arms crossed. "I know what he said..."

Barry sighed as he looked down at Jill, desperately wanting to comfort her. But he didn't know what to say. He never did.

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but as he formed a sentence, his tongue caught in his throat and his eyes widened as he looked past Jill. "Oh my god..." he whispered before jogging past Jill.

"What?" Jill murmured, whipping around to follow him with her eyes, watching Barry with worry and anxiety.

He knelt down next to the fireplace, the crackles of the fire lighting up his face as his gaze hardened. Jill cleared her throat nervously and tugged on her beret as she slowly followed him.

"Barry...?" Jill murmured, peering over his shoulder. Barry sighed and slowly stood up, stepping to the side and gesturing to the floor.

A dark pool of red blood puddled before the fireplace, staining the tile as it sat idly. Jill widened her eyes and took a step back, looking frantically to Barry, before back down to the blood.

"God whose is that?" Barry murmured breathlessly, his chest rising at a faster pace as he began to panic. Jill crossed her arms and looked up to him.

"It could be someone from Bravo team. There's no way Chris could've been here." She spoke, Barry turning to nod and connect eyes with her.

Jill's eyes flickered across Barry's unsure face before she pulled her gun from its holster, checking the barrel to load it. "I'll go check out this place a little more. If there's someone here, we need to find them before it's too late."

Jill was still reloading her pistol as she stepped past the pool of blood and made her way to the only other door in the dining room.

"Jill." Barry called out forcefully, causing her to break her gaze from her gun and turn around to look at him. Worry clouded his vision and he halfheartedly held out a hand to stop her.

"You can't go alone. I mean... you saw what happened outside. What if..."

Barry looked like he wanted to continue, but he paused. He shook his head and sighed before looking back up to Jill and giving her a firm smile.

"Just be careful."

Jill nodded and gave him a sad smile. "I will."

She reached for the doorknob and as her hand touched the cold metal, she stopped. Jill squinted her eyes shut, debating whether she should even ask, but turned back around towards Barry before she could stop herself.

"Why would Brad leave like that, Barry?"

Her eyes bore a heartbroken look, more disappointed than Barry had ever seen her look. Barry's eyebrows shifted up in sympathy, and he patted his hips lightly in uncertainty.

"I'm not sure, Jill."

Jill bit her lip and looked away. As long as she had known Brad, he had been catching slack from the team, especially Wesker, for messing up and not living up to his expectations.

She had been the only one to really believe in him and lift his spirits whenever they were down. And now he was gone.

He rode off in that helicopter by himself and he left them to die.

He left them to die.

"I just don't understand." She whispered, still looking down at the tile.

Barry nodded and smiled sadly. "I don't either. I know he's a really big fan of you, in particular."

Jill looked up to catch Barry's eyes, that statement only making her heart writhe more in despair. She shook her head and turned away from him and back towards the door.

"Maybe he was just scared. Like I am." Barry murmured before Jill got the chance to open the door.

"We're not like you and Chris, Jill... You guys aren't cowards."

Barry's tone wavered as he spoke, before he finally said one last thing.

"It's just unfortunate that you keep having to rely on them."

Barry murmured softly, sending a pang through Jill's heart. She wanted to look back at Barry, but she couldn't. Not this time.

So she shrugged off her emotions and pushed the door open to head deeper into the mansion.