Bravo Team (2)

The pack of Cerberus were drooling as they slowly moved forward.

"Hey, Mendell. Come here. Let's hide inside the helicopter!" Kevin adjusted his aim and fired his gun at the nearest Cerberus. "Hurry up!"

At once, the pack of Cerberus leaped forward as they gaped open their mouths.

Mendell ignored Kevin's suggestion and stood in a fighting stance - which he coined as the 'baseball stance' - and readied his weapon log. In a matter of seconds, he swung his bat and rotated like he was a hurricane, pushing some of the Cerberus away. He was about to step back when he noticed a Cerberus lunging at him, just a meter away from his neck. Luckily, Kevin was able to hit its head. Some of its guts even splattered on his clothes and he wanted to puke because of his heightened smell. Even the gunshots made him almost dizzy due to his sharpened hearing. He realized that he still had to train and let his body adjust to his newfound powers. Without turning around, he said, "Thanks for saving my ass!"

Kevin continued shooting when he realized that the Cerberus he shot earlier rose once again and leaped forward. "What the hell are they?!"

"They're biologically enhanced, having a stronger resistance, so it's not enough to shoot them once even if you hit them in vital parts like the head or heart, well unless you have a rocket launcher or something more powerful!" Mendell explained as he struck another Cerberus on its head, following it up with another smashing attack while it was on the ground, creating squishing sounds. Its innards came out, its blood splashed on the ground. "And don't let them get in contact with you. I'm not sure if these dog-like monsters can infect you once you're bitten but it's better to take some safety precautions!"

"Prevention's better than cure, I get it!" Kevin reloaded his gun and shot another Cerberus, annoyed that they kept on coming back. "What do you mean by infected? Like rabies?!"

Mendell did not answer and jumped forward as he saw one of them leaping toward him, meeting it head-on. He hit it with his weapon as hard as he could, throwing its body like a toy. Once his feet reached the ground, he jumped once again and struck the unconscious Cerberus near him, killing it in an instant.

Another Cerberus wanted to bite his arm but it missed because he quickly leaped backward. He did not waste any time and stood in a 'baseball stance' again, swinging the log against the Cerberus which was sneaking at the right side.

Meanwhile, Kevin did not stop shooting as he picked them one by one, learning from his previous mistake. A Cerberus almost got him but he was able to kill it by shooting its mouth twice.

Soon, they were able to trim their numbers until there were only three remaining left.

Mendell noticed that two Cerberus were running in his direction while the other one was going toward Kevin. He swung his log weapon against the Cerberus that targeted Kevin but it suddenly changed its direction, thereby missing it completely. At once, it started sprinting once again, shortening its distance to its prey.

Kevin saw everything and he knew he was in a bad situation. He searched his body and realized that he was out of ammunition. His adrenaline kicked in and he immediately closed the chopper's door, successfully blocking the monster's attack. Even then, the Cerberus did not give up and collided against the door once again, shaking the helicopter. He moved closer to the right seat and opened the ammunition case while shouting, "Mendell, don't mind me. I can handle this!"

On the other hand, Mendell witnessed all of this and sighed in relief. Annoyed by his shortcoming, he kicked the nearer Cerberus upward, flinging it up, while hitting the other one with his log. While it was in the air, he jumped and hit the monster with his log. Like a ball, its body zoomed toward the Cerberus that was attacking Kevin. Its attention was focused on the door that it failed to notice the incoming threat.

Mendell dashed toward the helicopter. Once the two Cerberus collided, he finished them with a series of bashing attacks. Finally, the scene became silent.

Kevin finally found ammunitions back in the case and reloaded his gun. He then looked through the window glass but he could not sense any activity. Slowly, he opened the door, only to find two dead Cerberus lying on the ground. Then he saw the young man who was sitting on the ground. "Mendell, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's over." Mendell checked his weapon and noticed that there were chipped part on its side. Upon further check-up, he concluded that the log was still usable. While he was removing the fleshy parts that were stuck on his weapon, he asked, "Why are you alone?"

Kevin looked around as he got out of the helicopter. "As I've said earlier, Captain and the rest of the team were searching for a dangerous criminal that's responsible for the deaths here. The vehicle that they're using to transport the criminal crashed several meters away from here and his body's missing. Captain suspected that he's just roaming around here and we don't want a murderer on the loose."

"Are you sure that he's the one who killed them? You've seen those monsters, they're pretty much capable of doing that..."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, I see what you mean." He tried using his radio once again but he could not contact his teammates. "Well, now let's talk about you. Why are you so familiar with them? What are those things? And you said that you're not trained in any martial arts, that's you're statement when Kevin asked you, and it's recorded in your profile."

Mendell remembered his casual conversation with Kevin Ryman yesterday and blamed himself for being so careless with his words. Now, he had to give a proper explanation. He paused for a minute as he continued cleaning his log, before replying with, "I lied. I'm a humble guy."

"Then, what's the truth?"

"Well, no one knows that I was a mercenary, even my family and friends are unaware of it. Last May, my teammate, five of us, were given a mission - a search and rescue for a missing daughter who was last seen camping in the Arklay Mountains. That was my first encounter with those monsters. As you can see, I'm now alone because my teammates were dead. So, I continued my investigation and found out some terrible secrets hidden in this forest. One of these is those monsters, they're all engineered in a lab."

"What?!" Kevin glanced at the dead Cerberus, - "you mean someone's creating those monsters? That's insane!"

Mendell chuckled as he stood up after cleaning his log. "Yeah, and those are just their simpler creations. There are far stronger monsters waiting for us in this forest." He recalled the cutscenes his other self saw while studying the Resident Evil plot and felt glad that somehow, he changed someone's fate. But there were many things that he had to do - the Spencer Mansion, the Executive Training School, the Yawn, Lisa Trevor. As soon as the girl popped inside his mind, he suddenly remembered his family.

Kevin noticed Mendell's expression. "Are you okay?"

Mendell stared at him, and asked, "If you have to choose between doing your mission or saving your family, which will you do first?"

Kevin was taken aback by his sudden question. He paused for a few seconds, before answering with, "I don't know. I can easily say it's mission first before anything else but I don't know what I'd do if I'm in that situation. Don't tell me - "

"Well, let's not waste time. We've gotta warn your team about those monsters or they'll be dead before knowing what hits them," Mendell cut him off as he lifted the ammunition case and started walking.

"Hey, what are you doing with that?! I can't go. Captain specifically commanded me to guard this chopper."

Mendell halted his steps and looked back. "Look. Would you rather see them dead? The chopper will stay here, it will not go away but the lives of your teammates are at risk right now. Besides, it's easier for them to believe me and warn them if I've got someone they know behind me, right? Hurry up! The more seconds we waste, the longer they walk blindly in this forest." After saying this, he began moving forward.

Kevin struggled but when he saw those carcasses, he quickly ran and followed Mendell.

Mendell heard footsteps behind him and sighed. For the first time, he was caught in a dilemma. He wanted to search for his family first but if he did so, these guys would die as well. Besides, he did not know their whereabouts but he exactly knew where Bravo team was. He decided to search for his family after finishing his job here, after all, it would only last for a day and a half. He clenched his fist, hoping that everything would end up well.