Chapter 115: Bombing Countdown

The air in the hospital room instantly froze. Carlos held his gun with a steady hand, his eyes scanning alertly between Jill and the strange silver-haired girl. His finger was tight on the trigger; if the other party made any suspicious move, he would fire without hesitation.

Jill stood in front of Chloe, her back ramrod straight, her tone brook no argument: "Put the gun down, Carlos! She's one of us."

"One of us?" Carlos furrowed his brows, still not letting down his guard. "Jill, all of Raccoon City is filled with monsters and Umbrella Corporation people right now. How can you be sure she isn't..."

"She is Chloe," Jill interrupted, her voice carrying a trace of an imperceptible tremor. "She is... the person most important to me."

Carlos was momentarily stunned, and the gun in his hand slowly lowered. He remembered the photo on Jill's desk at the police station, and he also remembered the terrifying god of death who had instantly wiped out the exoskeleton squad at City Hall Square.

He looked Chloe up and down in disbelief. The girl before him, wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with her hair in a high ponytail, looked just like an ordinary high school student. It was impossible to connect her with that blood-soaked monster that harvested lives.

Chloe stepped out from behind Jill and gave Carlos a slight nod. Her tone was calm but sincere: "Thank you, Carlos. Thank you for taking care of Sister Jill while I was away."

Carlos scratched his head and put his gun away, looking a bit embarrassed. "It's nothing, it's what I should do. Besides, Jill has saved me a few times too." He paused, but couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "You... you're the one from City Hall Square..."

"That was a state where the virus was out of control," Chloe said flatly, without offering much explanation. She didn't want others looking at her like she was a monster, and even more, she didn't want Jill to worry.

Jill took Chloe's hand and had her sit by the bed, then turned to Carlos and said, "Alright, stop asking. Don't scare her."

Carlos suddenly remembered the business at hand and quickly pulled a pale purple vaccine syringe from the inner pocket of his tactical vest. "I found the T-Virus vaccine, but there was only this one in the freezer... it's only enough for a single dose."

Jill looked at the small vaccine, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She took the syringe but didn't inject herself immediately. Instead, she looked at Chloe: "Chloe, you..."

"I don't need it." Chloe immediately understood her meaning and shook her head. "The virus in my body has stabilized; I don't need it for now. You should take it quickly, or it'll be too late."

Jill wanted to say more, but Chloe reached out and pressed her shoulder, her eyes firm: "Sister Jill, be good. Only if you're okay can we leave this place together."

Jill looked into Chloe's serious eyes and finally nodded. She stuck the needle into her arm and slowly pushed the plunger, the liquid flowing into her body through her veins.

After the injection, Jill pulled out the needle and threw the empty syringe into a nearby medical waste bin. It would take time for the vaccine to take effect. She leaned against the headboard, feeling a warm current spread through her body along her blood vessels. The previous burning pain gradually lessened.

The hospital room fell silent for a moment, save for the occasional roar of zombies coming from outside the window. The three of them sat in the room, none of them speaking; the atmosphere was a bit subtle.

Carlos sat in a chair, his gaze occasionally stealing glances at Jill. The concern and adoration in his eyes were impossible to hide. Chloe saw all of this and secretly chuckled to herself. She certainly knew about Carlos's feelings for Jill, but she shipped the official pairing of Jill and Chris more.

Chloe cleared her throat, intentionally breaking the silence: "By the way, Sister Jill, I met a new friend this time. She's a really good person."

"Oh? Who?" Jill asked curiously.

"It's Brother Chris's younger sister, Claire Redfield," Chloe said, her eyes stealing a glance at Carlos. Sure enough, she saw his expression stiffen slightly.

Jill indeed became nervous immediately: "Claire? Why would she be here? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, don't worry," Chloe quickly reassured her. "She came to Raccoon City alone because she couldn't get in touch with Brother Chris and was worried about his safety. I've already safely sent her out of the city with Leon, Sherry, and the others. They should have reached Raccoon City by now."

"That's good, that's good." Jill breathed a sigh of relief. "I should have notified her earlier. If anything happened to her, I really wouldn't know how to explain it to Chris."

"Brother Chris is currently in Europe investigating Umbrella Corporation's headquarters, so he can't be reached for now," Chloe said. "But Claire already knows about him. Once this is over, the siblings can reunite."

She paused and continued, "Saving Sherry went smoothly thanks to Claire. Sherry was injected with a G-Embryo by William and was on the brink of death. Claire and I stormed the Nest together, and after a narrow escape, we got the G-Virus Suppressant and saved Sherry's life."

Hearing about the infected little girl, Jill suddenly remembered something and looked up sharply at Carlos: "Kendo's daughter, Emma! She's infected too! Carlos, did Dr. Bard say if there are any more T-Virus vaccines?"

Carlos slapped his forehead: "I almost forgot! The recording said that besides the one in his office, the other vaccines are kept in the hospital's basement cold storage. There should be quite a few, enough to save other survivors."

"Then let's head to the basement now!" Jill said, about to get out of bed, but she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and her body swayed. Fortunately, Chloe caught her in time.

"Sister Jill, you've just been injected with the vaccine; your body is still very weak, you can't move around recklessly." Chloe helped her lie back down. "The vaccine hasn't fully taken effect yet; you need to rest well. Leave the basement to Carlos and me."

Just then, the ward door was suddenly pushed open, and Tyrone rushed in covered in blood. His chest was heaving violently as he gasped for air.

"Tyrone! What happened to you?" Carlos quickly stood up.

Carlos was about to introduce Chloe, but Tyrone reached out and cut him off. Not bothering to wipe the dust and blood from his face, he grabbed the TV remote from the nightstand and pressed the power button.

The old television made a buzzing static sound, the screen flickering with snow before the image from before the station's disconnection appeared. Following that, a cold and mechanical broadcast voice came from the TV, echoing throughout the hospital room:

"Attention all citizens, attention all citizens. Since the outbreak has spread throughout the entire city and cannot be effectively controlled, the government has decided to execute a tactical missile strike at 10:00 AM on October 1st to completely destroy Raccoon City and prevent further spread of the virus. All citizens who remain rational, please evacuate the city as soon as possible. Repeat, this is not a drill, this is not a drill!"

The broadcast ended, and the TV screen returned to static.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Jill sat up abruptly, her face pale, her voice trembling with disbelief: "Missile strike? That means there's less than a few hours left! There are still so many citizens trapped in Raccoon City! How can they do this!"

Tyrone sneered and leaned against the wall, his tone full of mockery and despair: "Do you think the government cares? In their eyes, those of us trapped in the city are already dead. They just want to destroy the evidence and cover up Umbrella Corporation's crimes."

Just then, a chaotic sound of growling and door-banging suddenly came from outside the room, getting closer and closer.

Tyrone's expression changed, and he immediately gripped his gun, looking alertly at the door: "Damn it! The horde followed us!"

Carlos signaled for Tyrone to sit down: "You rest first and catch your breath. I'll handle the outside."

Jill struggled to get out of bed to help, but another wave of dizziness hit her. Chloe quickly held her down, her tone firm: "Sister Jill, stay in bed. Now it's my turn to protect you."

"But you're still infected with the virus..." Jill said worriedly, reaching out to grab the G-Virus Suppressant kept by her pillow. "I still have one here; I don't know if it'll be useful for you..."

Chloe gently pressed her hand and shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Don't worry, my condition is very stable now. Thank you, Sister Jill."

Jill looked at her determined eyes and knew she couldn't be persuaded, so she could only nod and urge: "Then you must be careful and stay safe."

Carlos took Tyrone's assault rifle and handed it to Chloe: "Take this, it has more power. Be careful, a gun isn't a toy."

Chloe took the rifle, her fingers skillfully pulling back the bolt to check the magazine, then chambering a round with a 'click'. The entire sequence of movements was smooth and practiced.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Carlos: "When I was fighting zombies in the Nest, you hadn't even entered Raccoon City yet."

Carlos was stunned by her retort and spread his hands awkwardly, looking to Jill for help. Jill couldn't help but laugh: "Don't worry, Chloe can handle it. She's much more capable than you imagine."

Carlos rubbed his nose and turned to push open the ward door: "Let's go then, little super soldier."

Chloe followed behind him, giving Jill a reassuring gesture before she left.

Over a dozen zombies had already flooded into the hospital lobby. Sensing the scent of living people, they let out raspy low growls and lunged towards the stairs.

"The left is yours, the right is mine!" Carlos shouted, raising his gun and blowing the head off the foremost zombie with one shot.

Chloe didn't speak. She raised the assault rifle, her semi-auto fire precise, every bullet accurately hitting a zombie's forehead. Her movements were startlingly fast as she wove through the zombie crowd, occasionally extending her Blade Clawss to slit the throats of any zombies that got close.

The two coordinated perfectly, one providing long-range fire suppression and the other finishing them off in close quarters. They soon cleared out most of the zombies that had rushed in.

"This isn't a long-term solution; the horde will keep pouring in," Carlos said while changing magazines. "We have to block the main entrance."

"Use C4 to blow the pillars." Chloe pointed to the concrete pillars in the center of the lobby supporting the second floor.

Carlos nodded: "Good idea. Cover me, I'll go plant the explosives."

Chloe raised her rifle and guarded the door, picking off the zombies trying to rush in one by one. Carlos quickly ran to a pillar and stuck the C4 to its load-bearing section, setting the detonation timer.

"Done! Let's go!" Carlos shouted.

The two quickly retreated to the stairs. Carlos pressed the detonator, and with a thunderous boom, the concrete pillars collapsed. Debris and dust filled the air as the entire lobby shook violently. The collapsed walls and pillars completely blocked the hospital's main entrance, sealing the horde outside.

As the dust settled, Carlos patted the dust off himself and gave Chloe a thumbs-up: "Not bad, little super cop."

Chloe glanced at him and teased, "You too, creepy old guy."

Carlos shrugged and intentionally flipped his curly hair, striking a pose he thought was handsome: "Don't be like that. Come on, high five. Am I not handsome?"

Chloe helplessly reached out and high-fived him, then turned to walk toward the ward, leaving behind a casual remark: "Before you talk big, you'd better clean yourself up. If you want to pursue Sister Jill, you'll have to get past me first."

Carlos stood there stunned for a moment, then realized what she meant. He rubbed the back of his head, gave a goofy laugh, and quickly chased after her: "Hey! Wait for me! How am I creepy!"