Bravo Team (1)

"Ugh...fuck!" Mendell massaged his head as he slowly stood up. Even though he was in pain, he was alert of his surroundings, knowing that he was still inside the forest. His eyes scanned the area, making sure that there were no monsters nearby. When he was convinced that no one noticed his presence, he searched for a hiding place. He opted for the big boulder he passed by a while ago and did some retracing. After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached his destination and leaned his back against the huge boulder.

Mendell took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Yes, he needed to recollect everything he learned and familiarized the abilities he gained because of the assimilation, which was a great success. Today, he finally understood the mystery of his dreams that tormented him for ten years.

This time, he remembered the plot of the Resident Evil timeline, which the Ancient Legend used while creating this particular alternate Earth. The reason why he did this even though the Residence Evil plot was famous to Earthlings was unknown to anyone. According to his other self's memory, previous Chroniclers who were assigned to this world followed the Residence Evil plot as it was, thinking that it was safer to do so to easily defeat the Final Boss and find the Sherring Crystal. But the cunning Ancient Legend added some of his ideas, tweaking some of the monster's characteristics and abilities while preserving most of the plot. He even added some rules restricting the Chroniclers to tell the alternate Earth's inhabitants about the future events, or they would be erased. Too bad, they learned it the hard way, thus sacrificing their lives while using their last soul strength to record this information in the Chronicle Book and transported it back to Earth.

The leather-covered book that was inside his bag was indeed a Chronicler Book used to record the plots, characters, monsters, and events, with the help of soul power as ink. By doing this, the other Chroniclers could investigate and learn the rules used by the Ancient Legend in creating this world, which in turn could be used in solving the other Alternate Earths' mystery.

Soul power was also needed to perform the ability exclusive only for Chroniclers, which was conjuration. But it had its limitations. The only things he could summon were the things his other self could provide, which all came from the original Earth. As of now, the only things he could use were Night Vision Shade and the All-Purpose Vehicle, which could become a boat, a car, or a plane.

But this was not the reason why he was ecstatic after assimilating with his other self. It was because of the changes happening within his body.

Chroniclers were biologically enhanced, having superhuman senses, agility, and strength. They were also trained for combat, highly exposed to many weapons and gadgets. And their bodies became more adept in absorbing the ruling powers of the alternate Earth, using it for their advantage. The only bad thing was they were still constrained by the ruling powers of the world.

Mendell had no idea what his limits were but at least he had something to rely on to continue his journey. After all, no one wanted to die in vain.

He used his soul power and conjured the Night Vision Shade, which appeared directly on his face. True enough, he could now see through the darkness. He recalled Albert Wesker's obsession with shades, even using them during nighttime. Maybe this was the real reason, he wondered as he stood up.

"How about the All-Purpose Vehicle?" Mendell tried conjuring it when suddenly intense pain assaulted his head, almost making him faint in the process. His breathing became ragged as he knelt on the ground. "Dang! That was close. Curiosity almost killed the cat..." He wondered why such a thing happened to him, considering this was a part of his ability. Upon further analysis, he concluded that his soul power was not enough. Too much time was wasted and he decided to hurry up.

The first thing he had to do was create a weapon for self-protection. After all, he had no guns and the swiss knife was unreliable especially when dealing with tyrants. Through his heightened vision, he finally found a thick log - a meter long and 10 inches in diameter - which was good enough for smashing things. Thanks to his increased strength, he could easily carry it without hindering his normal actions. He had no strap to place it on, so he decided to carry it with his bare hands. Before continuing his journey, he returned the head flashlight into his knapsack and secured it on his back.

When he was done, he took a deep breath before exhaling deeply, knowing that this would be a long night. Somehow, he was puzzled about one thing. What would happen if he would save those who were meant to die, he thought to himself. He did not know where to find his family and he was afraid that they were dead. But there was one thing that he could do to change the current timeline - saving the Bravo Team.

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"Have you seen it? There's a flash of light a while ago," Kenneth Sullivan remarked, his eyes still fixated toward the area where he had seen the anomaly. "As far as I'm concerned, that was a flashlight."

"Why? Did it create some sort of a chemical reaction for you to arrive at such a conclusion?" Forest Speyer teased as he checked a heavy caliber Magnum handgun on his hand.

Kenneth snickered. "Well, did you miss your session with Chris and Joseph? I think you could even defeat Kevin Ryman when it comes to drinking."

Forest flipped him a finger as he finally secured his Magnum inside the holster.

Richard Aiken laughed. "With both of you together, I guess we'd have an enjoyable ride tonight."

Rebecca Chambers shook her head, her mouth curved in a smile as she peeked through the window.

Enrico Marini snorted. "Everyone, be alert. It's time to focus."

Everyone became quiet as they understood the severity of their mission. They just sat down, contemplating, when all of a sudden, something unexpected had happened.

BANG!

Everyone staggered as they heard the loud explosion.

"What's going on?!" Enrico shouted as he leaned forward.

"Engine failure!" Edward Dewey replied as he pressed some knobs, - "Emergency landing!"

Enrico nodded. "Everyone, prepare yourselves."

The helicopter descended as the billows of smoke scattered in the air due to engine explosion. After a few seconds, it finally crashed against the ground.

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BANG!

Mendell clicked his tongue as soon as he heard the explosion. Staring toward the northwest, he quickened his pace and began to run. He knew that there would be a drastic turn, killing most of the Bravo team members as soon as the night ended. If his memory served him right, their helicopter engine was rigged with the full intention of trapping them, making sure that they would not escape as planned by Albert Wesker.

Mendell continued to dash forward while attentively looking around for any monsters. With the help of his heightened hearing, he detected the presence of the flock of crows ahead of him, which was already flying toward his direction. He snickered and sprinted forward as he carried his tree log, ready to swat these pesky monsters. As soon as they were a few meters away from him, he stopped abruptly and did a stance like he was ready to swing a baseball bat. At once, he swung it as hard as he could, hitting some of the birds due to the log's thickness, and leaped to the right quickly, avoiding the rest of the birds' menacing attacks. Through the night vision, he could see them flying back to their original position and swooped down once again. He gripped his log and did what he initially performed back then and swung as hard as he could before evading to the left. Another set of birds was knocked unconscious.

When he noticed that the birds he hit were gaining consciousness and started flapping their wings, he dashed forward and smash them like flies.

He knew he had to kill this flock of birds before proceeding to his destination. Fewer monsters meant more success. With this in mind, he waited for the remaining birds to approach him once again before swatting them like flies.

This he did - swatting those that were flying and squashing those that were knocked down. After several minutes, he finally destroyed the last one as he gave it one smashing attack.

"Annoying bastards..." Mendell checked his weapon log and grinned when he realized that it was still in good condition. "Such a thick and durable log, huh?" He pulled out the book from his bag and recorded the monster's data using his soul power. When everything was over, he started running once again.

Northeast, he could sense something lurking around but he had no time to check them. He needed to reach the crash site as soon as possible.

Mendell did not know how long it took him running but finally, he was able to reach his target. Even though he knew someone was inside the cockpit, he still shouted, "Is anyone there?!"

"Don't move! Identify yourself!" Kevin Dooley opened the door and aimed his gun at Mendell.

Mendell stepped forward to make himself more visible. "Please don't shoot, sir. I'm just a civilian."

Kevin Dooley took a good look and instantly recognized the face of his visitor. "You're the young man we met back at the RPD earlier. How come you're here?" He noticed the log on his arms dripping with gore and blood, and frowned, "What happened to you?"

When Mendell sensed Kevin's change of emotions after noticing his log weapon, he explained, "I was attacked by mutated crows. You see, I was looking for my family after losing hope of finding help from the RPD. I entered the forest from the Arklay Scenic Drive."

"But RPD deployed some cops to guard that entrance."

"There was no one around when I arrived."

Kevin tried contacting his teammate but something was messing with their signals. Even then, he continued aiming his gun at Mendell. "You were talking about mutated crows, that I can't believe. This is not a film."

Mendell remembered that Kevin did once work in the entertainment industry, according to his profile. He simply grinned and replied, "Well, as long as we stay here, I can prove to you that these monsters exist."

Kevin snorted. "Fine by me. Just stay there and don't move, okay? After all, there's a dangerous criminal on the loose and I can't trust a stranger."

Mendell had an idea as to who he was referring to but he still asked, "Who?"

"Billy Coen. If you see him, you better run. He had killed 23 people."

Mendell shrugged his shoulders. Even at this time. his attention was still on his surrounding, knowing that anytime, a pack of Cerberus would come. But he wanted to avoid the awkward silence, so he inquired, "What type of helicopter you're using?"

"Bell UH-1 Iroquois, not that a civilian would know. Captain Enrico checked your files after you eavesdrop on us, suspecting you to be a spy of some sort. After finding out what you did yesterday and your history, he finally let it slide, letting you go."

"Then why are you still doubting me?"

"Just following certain protocols. A civilian wandering inside a dangerous forest, carrying a thick log dripping with blood and flesh at night? Now, that's suspicious, ain't it?"

Mendell nodded. "I guess so. Even I would arrest myself." Then he heard the sounds of crunching leaves coming from the east. As seconds passed by, the sounds became louder, this time he could even detect the snarls coming from their mouth. He turned around and gripped his bat, facing east.

Kevin noticed his peculiar actions, and asked, "Hey, what are you doing? Don't even think of doing any funny actions, okay?"

Mendell looked back. "I told you I can prove that those monsters exist if we stay, right? Now, it's time. We've got some company and they're pretty fast."

"What are you talking about? You - " Kevin stopped talking when a pack of Cerberus appeared through the darkness. "Dog shit!"