A few hours ago.

Jean injected herself with Alice’s blood before turning around and realizing Carl was on the ground.

She would carry him, but immediately she realized she was supposed to be heavily wounded. Almost desperate, she threw a look at Alice for help.

Alice sighed. She was immune to t-virus, which meant even if Carl turned into a zombie she would be safe. As someone that killed dozens of zombies, she was more than capable of fending for herself. She walked to Carl and carried him between her arms.

The team walked for a few more steps before JD suddenly collapsed. Rain bit her lips, but the mercenary part of her knew there was nothing she could do. Just like she imagined, JD rose again as an undead.

“No…” Rain bit her lips so hard she tasted blood.

Jean put a bullet in the zombie’s head and remained quiet as the body fell. Everyone knew what this meant.

“My blood didn’t work.” Alice whispered.

“Just because it didn’t work with JD doesn’t mean it will not work with me and Carl.” Jean insisted. “Let’s go.”

The survivors, Alice, Addison, Rain, Kaplan, and Vance, followed her out of the mansion.

“What the hell happened when we were gone?”

Walking out of the mansion, most of the team thought they would be leaving the world of the dead and into that of the living. After all, the t-virus outbreak was just within The Hive. All the death and destruction it brought would remain in that facility. Outside, law and order still prevailed. Right?

Looking at an undead with one arm missing, they knew they couldn’t be more wrong.

“He was an Umbrella soldier.” Rain observed the zombie just before he was taken out. His black battle suit and tactical gadgets told her of his former identity.

“How...how did this happen?” Addison’s mouth was wide open.

“Something happened here when we were in The Hive. Somehow the virus got out into the open.” Jean stared into a distance. She could hear the sound of undead roaring and firearms firing. Whoever spread the virus, they moved quickly. Already she could sense hundreds of infected within Racoon City, and that number was growing exponentially.

“What do we do?” Rain no longer had an idea. Before this point her only objective was to get out of The Hive and report back to Umbrella about what happened. Despite knowing Umbrella was creating bioweapons and personally suffering the destruction these bioweapons brought, the Sanitation Team was still under Umbrella. Like it or not, the mercenaries still had a company to fall back to. Maybe they would retire/quit afterward, but the thought of escaping to safety always remained in their minds.

Now that the entire city was under attack from the undead and there was no telling what happened to Umbrella, she had no idea what to do. There was no escaping when the world was burning. The same could be said for the rest of the mercenaries as they stood around with a haunted look.

“We need to find a place to regroup and come up with a plan,” Jean turned around and looked at Carl. “and to treat the wounded.” Her tone was determined, and the group obeyed her since there was no plan B.

The team found their way into an abandoned house. The three mercenaries left secured the house while Alice laid Carl down in a bedroom.

Jean walked to Carl and touched his arm. She remained in that position for nearly a minute before a few clicks caught her attention.

“The house owners are infected.” Rain said loudly from upstairs. What she did to them didn’t need to be said.

“Copy that.” Jean replied as random gunshots came from outside the house. She turned around and walked out of the bedroom. “I will clear the perimeter. If I’m not back in ten minutes, send help.” She said loudly and left before anyone could question it.

Walking out of the front door, she circled around the house. Two zombies were in her way...briefly. Suddenly, she stopped still.

A figure emerged behind her.

“This was not the plan.” Jean said without turning.

“Plan?” The figure smirked. “Which part of the plan included saving the natives?” She focused on the word plan. “You were supposed to lead some zombies here. Instead, you decided to scratch that plan without contacting us and bring human beings out instead. Any reasons?” If she didn’t have a habit of not fully trusting others, their plan of harvesting resources would be wasted. In fact, her life would be on the stake as without the zombies Umbrella would be a formidable enemy. The might of half the planet wasn’t something a few voyagers could challenge.

Jean turned around and faced Xia. A small hesitation was on her face before being replaced by a look of determination. “I don’t answer to you.” She replied coldly.

Xia was still in her black mercenary suit, but a small part of it was stained red. Two pistols were strapped to her belt. Jean noticed Xia’s hands were not far away from her weapons.

“Well, in that case,” She smirked and tapped something on her watch. Jean felt a buzz and realized she was kicked out of the team she, Xia, and Ivan formed. In a temporary team, as long as the majority of the team, or the team leader, which is not decided in this case, agreed to kick a member out, that voyager would be exiled from the team. The team mechanism was how Xia told Jean to meet her here.

The two remained silent for a few seconds.

“How did you get your wounds?” Xia suddenly started after seeing the opening on three of Jean’s four limbs. Her tone was getting slightly softer.

Jean looked down on her treated wounds and didn’t answer. The injuries were treated, but in order to pretend to be normal she didn’t heal them instantly. There was some blood, and she never had the chance to change.

“You are a voyager, Jean, a voyager! How in the world did you get injured by a couple zombies? The lickers shouldn’t be a problem. Even if you can’t win, you have no problem escaping intact!” Jean was still silent, but Xia saw something from her expression. “Carl, isn’t it? He made you soft. He distracted you.” For some reason, she sounded more feeling sorry than being angry. As for why she knew it was Carl, it was obvious Jean didn’t give a damn about the natives like the mercenaries or Alice. If she did she wouldn’t be agreeing on unleashing the undead. Thus the only reason Jean changed her mind would be the recruit. “You were a perfect voyager with a great chance of surviving the mission, and he distracted you so much that you got hurt by a few zombies.” She said with disdain.

“Like I said before, I don’t answer to you.” Jean persisted. “Now, if you have nothing else to speak to me, I will be leaving. Our deal is done.”

“Wait.” Xia stopped Jean. The blonde silently rested her hands on the pistols on her belt. Luckily, Xia didn’t have any hostile intentions. “Just a word of advice.”

Jean’s hands left her weapons, showing her willingness to listen. Xia sighed deeply and continued.

“We live in a cruel world, Jean.” She whispered. “The day we became a voyager is the day our lives were completely changed. Since that day, if we want to survive, we need to learn to give up certain things. For example, love.” She looked into Jean’s eyes. “You didn’t suffer much in your first mission, did you?”

“Not really.” Jean replied. Maybe a tiny bit of that might be, to a degree, true.

“Well, I did.” Xia smiled, but deep down she had a haunted look. “I can still remember that day. The day when me, and a few other recruits, arrived into that world. One of the recruits was a man.” Her voice became even quieter. “He was the perfect person. Handsome. Honest. Caring. Brave.” Xia seemed to be adding every single complement she could think of onto that man. “Lovely.”

“He betrayed you.” Jean skipped to the most important part. She knew where this was going.

“All five of us fought side by side. In the end, only two of us survived. He and I. In the end, we both received a precious gadget.” She continued, sinking too deep into her memory to mind what Jean was saying. “Apparently he thought two were better than one.”

Jean’s mouth hung open, but no words came out. She didn’t really know what to say.

Xia lifted up her battle suit and revealed a large piece of skin on her abdomen. Right in the middle was an angry red scar that ran deep across.

“He stabbed me in the back and killed me,” She looked at the mark and explained blankly. “but that bastard had no idea every voyager had a chance to be brought back upon death. I have already given up, but then I was saved and completely healed.” She grinned mockingly. “I wonder what the look on his face was when he learned that news.”

“Then how come you still have that mark?” Jean questioned. “You were completely healed.”

“Oh this?” Xia shrugged and ran her finger across the scar. “I carved it on myself. It reminds me of the lesson that man taught me.” A look of sickness was on her face. A girl needed to be really mentally ill to hurt herself like this.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you,” Jean said slowly. “but I don’t see how that has anything to do with me.”

“It has everything to do with you. Can’t you see? You are in the same position as I was in. You are passionate and trusting. You are sacrificing your potential power and risking your life to help others. It will not end well.” Xia outbursted. “When I was betrayed, I didn’t die instantly. In fact, it took me at least an hour to fully die. Do you know what I was doing in that hour?”

Jean remained silent.

“I was thinking, and it didn’t take me long to come to a conclusion. For people like us, love doesn’t matter. Sympathy doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the power we hold. Our power is the only thing that means anything to us. With sufficient power, we can get anything we want. Without enough power, we are nothing. This is why it is so stupid to sacrifice power for the faint feeling you call love. Anything that stands in the way of power is an obstacle and needs to be removed.”

If Jean wasn’t emotionless she would be laughing at the irony. Just hours ago she was telling Carl how important power is. Now the role was reversed. However, this conversation wasn’t meaningless. At least she gained key information about a fellow voyager. This might be important some day.

“Again, I apologize for what happened to you, but I am different, and so is Carl.” Despite what Jean really thought inside, the character she was trying to portray in front of the voyagers was a voyager who was somewhat determined but still naive inside. This was the only way she could get close enough and get the trust of Carl. Someone of her profile shouldn’t be convinced by a few words.

“Suit yourself.” Xia didn’t insist any further. The only reason she was having this conversation with Jean was because she saw the older version of her in this blonde. Whether or not Jean believed in her didn’t matter. The Asian turned around and left, but not before giving a final warning.

“We shouldn’t meet again, but if we do, don’t get in my way.”

"You have already threatened my cause once. This time I will let it go. You will not have the same luxury the next time."

When Xia was gone, Jean silently walked back into the house.