Two transports were in a field on the northern side of the camp. They were the best hope to ferry the nearly fifty Umbrella forces left outside the city to safety.

Cain and nearly thirty men rushed to the transports. At least twenty men were left behind. They thought they would be covered by their comrades, but it turned out their comrades valued their own lives above those of their brothers. As the firing from the attackers turned more frequent, the orderly retreat turned into an uncontrollable defeat. The few that wanted to do something were insignificant when everyone around them wanted nothing but escape. Plus, even their commander was leaving. Why would they remain?

As they got closer to the field, Cain realized something was off. It was too quiet. The transports were protected by at least a dozen men. Some of them were summoned to the front when the situation was dire, but there should still be some guards. Yet no one was coming to greet them.

“Now!” A cry came from among the transports, and under the cover of the night at least twenty gun barrels poked out of all directions. Some were from the transports. Some were from behind buildings. All of them were scattered across the field so they could survive longer.

The Umbrella forces, on the other hand, were clumped up in a tight formation. A few swipes from the automatic rifles could mow them down with ease.

It was a slaughter.

The attackers acted with no remorse. In fact, it was as if they were taking pleasure in massacring the Umbrella soldiers. Bullets cut through the black suited soldiers. Their normal human being bodies were no match for the storm of steel. Half a dozen Umbrella soldiers were down in the first few seconds.

The survivors got down and fired back as much as they could, but the attackers came prepared. Their guns were equipped with silencers, which covered the fire from their guns. The Umbrella forces, on the other hand, weren’t prepared for fighting. Their glaring gun barrels were as obvious as possible in the dark. The only thing their bullets did was tell the attackers where they were.

The Umbrella soldiers outnumbered the attackers, but their number was decreasing by the seconds and, as far as they could see, the attackers were ungrazed.

Eventually, the Umbrella soldiers have had enough. They were paid by Umbrella, but no amount of money could buy absolute loyalty. Money wouldn’t matter to the dead.

“Don’t shoot! I surrender!” One of the men yelled. Several men around him stopped firing as well. As if a signal was given, the entire battlefield went silence. The few absolute loyalists were stopped by their comrades.

“Keep shooting!” Cain ordered loudly, pointing his pistol threateningly. If they surrendered, the foot soldiers may be released, but as the commanding officer he wouldn’t get away easily.

The soldiers ignored him.

Cain groaned and pointed at a soldier close to him. The man has dropped his rifle. “Pick up your weapon and open fire on the enemies.” If the soldiers surrendered, there was no way he could get out all by himself. “Now!”

The soldier looked at him before slowly picking up the rifle. Cain slightly grinned, but then the man turned the rifle and smacked him in the face. The major fell on the ground. His firearm left his grip.

Turned out the twenty or so men Cain abandoned surrendered quickly. Their commander left them. Why would they give their lives to buy time for someone that left them to die?

With a bruise on his face, Timothy Cain looked at the attackers that crushed his elite Umbrella forces. He was slightly surprised to find out they were from multiple origins. Some of them were wearing STARS uniforms. Some were mercenaries. Some were SWAT. Some were police officers. Some were even in civilian clothing.

The only thing common was the way they looked at him. It was a look of ultimate disdain, like the way people look at someone who committed mass murder.

Two attackers yanked Cain forward and pushed him on the ground. As Cain looked up, he was faced with a rather pissed off man.

The man got right to the point.

“A few hours ago an Umbrella strike team was deployed to attack a group of survivors in Racoon City. They abducted a girl.” Carl said as calmly as possible. “Where is she?”

Unseen by the mortals, Aidan sat on a box of ammunition thoughtfully. For a moment he considered completely betraying Jean and tell Carl who Jean truly was via Cain’s lips, but the girl would not be satisfied. The pain in his stomach warned him to think before acting.

Finally, Aidan made up his mind.

A look of struggle appeared on Cain’s face, but it quickly disappeared. “I shipped her to the headquarter in Japan for dissection.” He said provokingly and in a highly unusual manner. “You’ll never find her! Even if you do, the only thing you will see will be pieces of her body put in lab containers.” That was a lie to cover Jean’s escape. Something like this was obviously Aidan’s work. At the same time, the psychic also changed the memories of the Umbrella survivors to match Cain’s story. A captured girl shouldn’t have massacred her way through a heavily defended camp.

Carl pulled a pistol out of his holster and put it to the man’s face. He hesitated for a second, but the thought of Jean be experimented on was more than enough to make him pull the trigger.

A gunshot echoed through the field. The Umbrella commander collapsed with a hole in his head. His last thought was a confused one. Why would he do something so stupid?

Carl sighed and looked away.

Ever since Jean was captured, Carl sought to take her back. It was this thought that encouraged him to form what was practically an army. The few survivors from the previous attack joined together again. The new team, under Carl’s command, advanced through the city, taking out zombies and rallying fresh reinforcements. Under this circumstance, everyone Carl met, armed or not, joined his obviously more armed forces.

In the end, there were more than 50 armed men and women and over a hundred civilians. During the raid on the gunshop, the mercenaries only took a small number of weapons, and, discreetly and under Jean’s suggestion, Carl put the rest of the weapons into his watch. Now these weapons were used to arm over 30 civilians, making the number of armed men 80.

Supposedly, this was still insufficient to take on the Umbrella forces. Most of Carl’s men were not professional soldiers whereas all of the Umbrella troopers were trained to kill. This forced Carl to use some tricks.

First, Carl explained to his men what Umbrella did. The knowledge that all this hell and horror was caused by a decision by the Umbrella High Command was enough to inspire some hatred and therefore increase the morale. Most of the men were ready to rip the Umbrella soldiers to pieces.

Just morale couldn’t make a group of civilians soldiers, so Carl used tactics to make up for the lack of strength. Abusing the silencers and the element of surprise, he positioned most of the civilians turned soldiers and a small portion of the elite soldiers at the southern side of the camp. When bullets were flying, gunshots from every direction could cover up the lack of accuracy and make the defenders believe they were outnumbered.

In this case, a counterattack would be pointless. They were planning to leave anyways, so why would they risk their lives attacking into the defenders? Before the attack, Carl spotted two large transport planes parked in the northern side of the camp. Using the cover of the frontal assault, Carl, Alice, Jill, Rain, and the most elite of the team sneaking into the field. The few guards were gunned down before they could get a signal out. The few pilots were executed as well. When the situation was under control, the attackers took positions around the field and got ready. All they needed was the prey to walk right into the trap.

And the prey did.

Yet all this careful planning didn’t get Carl the result he wanted. Jean was transported to what might be the most heavily defended Umbrella base. Just Whisker could slaughter an army, nevermind all the soldiers and traps the base might hold. He had a couple dozen men. There was no way he could break into the base.

“Carl?” Alice asked with concern. She knew how much Jean meant to him.

Carl’s eyes shined determination as he forced his thoughts away from a dissected Jean. “How was the fight?”

“12 killed. 34 captured. We lost 4 men. Both transports are safe.” Rain reported. “What should we do with the captives?”

It took a moment for Carl to realize he was in control of 34 lives. He could decide whether those 34 men live or die with a single word. If he decided to execute them, the soldiers below him would have no problem carrying out the order. If he decided to let them live, they would probably escape the fate of certain death. They may still die, but they would live for now.

He remained silent for a while. A part of him wanted to kill every men and women that worked for Umbrella. Even if he couldn’t save Jean, he could avenge her.

“Carl?” Rain continued. Time was a luxury they could barely afford.

“K…” Carl caught himself. The soldiers were defenseless. Killing them couldn’t accomplish anything. In fact, he doubted if he would feel better with 34 deaths on his hand. After all, those men were just following orders. It was the Umbrella commanders that were letting innocent die for their own gains. They were those that deserved to die.

“Strip their weapons, tell them what Umbrella did, and let them go. They can join us if they want.”

Rain nodded.

Carl turned around. “Find four pilots and get the transports ready. We’re leaving this place.”

The others went to work, and Carl stared into a distance.

“Wait for me, Jean…”