Fan Fiction ❯ To Live and Run... ❯ Semper Fi ( Chapter 2 )
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.20.2005 | Updated On: 07.20.2005 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.4K | Visits: 138 | Status: Completed
By C. Ravenlocke
The chaos was slowly starting to die down around them, but Rebecca didn’t notice. Her eyes were on her hands, the gun trembling between them. Like all S.T.A.R.S. members, she’d been trained in the use of firearms, and had been run through various combat training exercises. However, she’d also been under the impression that S.T.A.R.S. was mainly a search-and-rescue type of organization. Even her marksman trainer had joked with her once that she didn’t need to worry too much about her scores, because it wasn’t terribly likely she’d ever have to actually use her gun. Needless to say, Rebecca Chambers never thought she’d end up having to shoot a man who she had counted among her closest friends.
Her eyes lifted, moving to Billy’s motionless form. They were both covered in blood now, he from the man he’d killed, and she from his lifeless body falling against her. She reached down without thinking, brushing a wisp of hair from his eyes. The pain in her heart was eased somewhat by the small but serene smile on the man’s lips. Her fingers went to his tattoo, tracing the letters gently, tears in her eyes as she did. How much had he suffered at the hands of Umbrella’s scientists? She couldn’t even begin to imagine. All she knew for certain was that whatever methods they’d used to twist and distort his mind in the manner they had, it must have been terrible. She’d understood the pleading in his eyes, the desperate pleading in the blue orbs had been a request for release. Those same eyes that stared sightlessly at the darkened ceiling. She reached forward with a trembling hand, and closed his eyes.
She heard footsteps behind her, but recognized the tread; it was David. “It’s time to go,” she heard him say, his soft British accent making the words more of a request than an order.
“We can’t leave him here like this,” she replied calmly.
“There isn’t anything more we can do for him, Rebecca.”
She looked behind her, her glare a palpable thing. “We are not going to leave him here like this.”
“And just what would you suggest we do with him?”
Rebecca withheld a sob. “I don’t know, David, but I can’t leave him here. You saw what Umbrella turned him into....he had a family once...I don’t know what they’d do if they got a hold of him again. We need to find somewhere to bury him, cremate him...something.”
David almost protested. Although Billy was the only one of Umbrella’s creatures they’d encountered so far, that didn’t discount the possibility that there were others. David knew his first priority should be getting his team out safely. And yet... “Was...he the one you told me about?”
Rebecca nodded. “Yes. He’s the man who saved my life. This is...was...Lieutenant Billy Coen...”
There was silence for several long moments, and then David nodded. “All right.”
Together, they carried Billy’s lifeless body outside. John Andrews didn’t look at all amused as they emerged from the warehouse. He resisted his immediate urge to make a smart ass remark; Rebecca’s expression warranted no humor at the moment. “We’re not seriously bringing him along, are we, David?” he asked.
“Only as far as necessary to give him a proper burial,” David replied flatly.
No one argued.
#####
They couldn’t have chosen a better place, Rebecca thought to herself as she helped John arrange Billy’s body on the bed of kindling and dry grass they’d managed to put together. The little stretch of forest was peaceful, beautiful. Everything the Arklay Forests should have been. In this little clearing, there were no T-Virus creatures. There was no White Umbrella, or frightening politics. Billy had told her of a place like this during one of their brief rests in the Training Facility. He’d liked to hunt in places like this, he’d told her. It really made you feel like you were in touch with nature, he’d said. Rebecca remembered thinking, at the time, that such words were an odd sentiment coming from a man like him. That was before she’d known about his mission to Africa. It was before she knew about all the teammates he’d watched die.
It was before she’d known Billy Coen was to become Umbrella’s new guinea pig.
She lingered by the makeshift pyre for a few more minutes, her fingers drifting lightly over the boldly inked letters of his tattoo. She let her gaze drift up to Billy’s face, keeping her eyes carefully away from the gaping hole in his forehead. The wound drew her eye anyway, and she gave a small, grateful smile when John stepped forward, producing a bandanna from his pocket that he folded like a headband and wrapped it around the former Marine’s forehead, covering the wound. “He was a Marine, right?” John said softly, and when Rebecca nodded, went on softly. “He deserves to go out with some dignity, then.”
Rebecca smiled a little more at that. “You would have liked him, John.”
“I’m sure I would have. Done saying your good byes?”
Rebecca nodded, then turned away from the pyre. “I know...you’re supposed to leave one of the dog tags in the mouth of a soldier...so the body can be identified later. Do you...think he’d be upset if I kept them both?”
“Considering what Umbrella’s done to him, I doubt it. Now, you go wait over there with David and the others, okay?”
Clutching the battered dog tags like a rosary, Rebecca walked away. She didn’t turn around again until she heard the sound of burning timber. Then, steeling herself, she watched the gasoline soaked wood and flesh burn. No one spoke; no eyes but her tear-brimmed orbs watched the flames. No one tried to rush her. Which was just as well. She would watch that fire until the last ember died. Then she’d bury the ashes, and whatever was left, and pray to the heavens that Billy would finally find rest.
That decision firmly made, she couldn’t help but smile when she heard John behind her whisper. “Semper Fi, Lieutenant.....”
Semper Fi.
Semper Fidelis.
Always Faithful.
It was the epitaph they carved into the tree where they buried him. Then, satisfied she’d done all she could, Rebecca turned to the others. “Let’s go.”
#####
She stood in front of a weathered tree. Her hair was long now, her eyes old beyond her years. A battered and scratched dog tag glinted dully on her chest. She’d come to pay her respects as she had every year for the last two decades. She said nothing as she laid a small bouquet of flowers at the foot of the tree. Words were unnecessary. The bold tattoo on her shoulder said it all.
Lt. Billy Coen
1972-1998
“Semper Fi”