Lab Rat Part 3 ~~~

Lab Rat Part 3 ~~~

Carlos Oliveira x GN!Reader

The VERY long awaited Part 3 is FINALLY here !

I`m so sorry for the long wait, and I hope this makes up for it :D

Word Count: ~5k

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, a smidge of angst

Trigger Warnings: Canon typical violence, minor character death(s) (let me know if I missed anything)

Lil` spoiler.... there probably will be at least a part 4 o.O

~~~

The first thing you notice when you come back to your senses, is the splitting headache forming just behind your forehead.

The immense heat surrounding you doesn't help your case either.

"Yeah, that's good. Come on, stay awake !"

Blinking your eyes open, you find Judy staring down at you with concern. The happiness comes through on her face with every millimeter your eyelids open further.

"Thank god. Thought we lost you there." She says, slowly backing away and letting you rest your head on the brick wall you are seated against.

"What happened?" You decide to ask, throat dry as the desert still trying to orient yourself.

Your only colleague left alive tells you then, that the front of the train, containing the monster, exploded, and thus derailed to entire subway. The crash itself she can't remember in detail. Judy was woken up when Jill checked for survivors.

They both found you, dragged your out of the rubble, and tried their best to get you conscious.

"Jill went to see if there is some water nearby. Should be back any minute."

The timing was almost comedic as the steel door swung open to your left, with Jill entering the area and a flask in hand.

"Great, you're awake. How bad is it ?" Jill kneels down next to you and hands you the flask after decapping it for you.

Slowly getting back to your senses, you swallow the water greedily, before answering with a sigh.

"As well as I can be after a monster derailed the train."

"That's fair. Can you stand ? Walk ?" Jill inquires, standing up and offering her hand to you.

Grasping her gloved hand strongly, you hoist yourself up and stand quite steadily, which surprises even you.

Taking a few cautious steps first, you nod your head to Jill, and Judy comes up to you.

"Alright. Let's get going. I tried radioing Carlos, but-" Jill starts explaining her next steps.

"What did he say ?" You shoot, not even letting her finish her sentence.

"Well, keyword is tried." Jill sighs as she pushes the door open she came busting through mere minutes ago. "I couldn't get a signal. We're out of range. We have to get to the top again, and out of here."

With a breathing out in dissatisfaction, you follow her through the small storage room, where she stocks up on random ammunition lying around.

"And where exactly is 'here' anyways ?" Judy wonders, cutting you off about to ask the same.

Jill pushes open the next heavy steel door, and before you see where you are, you smell it.

The headache from before comes back a smidge more prominent.

"Great, the canalisation." You grumble, trying to supress the urge to head back to the train wreck.

Jill, ever the fighter, jumps boots first into the drain water. Looking around, you spot no other way for you not to get your feet wet.

In your next life, you swear to advocate for tactical footwear in the lab.

If you have another lifetime.

After the inital hesitation, you find yourself, Jill and Judy wading through the smelly water, filled to the brim with dirt, grime and microorganisms.

The microbiologist in you tries not to think about how you are most likely collecting every infectious disease known to mankind on your legs and feet.

The sewer area is vast and eery, but Jill seems to instinctively know where to head. At one point, you asked her if she's been here before, to which she actually laughed, but denied it and blamed her survival instincts.

The worst part though, was the monsters you encountered down there. Jill had pretty much everything handled, but was glad when you helped her with the pipes and sharp objects lying around or Judy trying to lure them away from Jill, so the latter could prepare a final blow.

All in all, you could say that you really learned to fight together, and even someone as battle hardened as Jill was appreciative of your help.

Your biggest problem was the water. Everything was slippery, the objects you used as weapons are hard to grab onto, and more than once did Judy give you a heart attack by slipping and almost falling into a monsters arms.

Thankfully, Jill was a very good shot, and saved your lives dozens of times. At one point, you pondered if you should ask Jill if you guys were a nuisance to her. Dragging her down, slowing her progress, but you threw the thought away.

You hoped she wouldn't agree, but what if she did and left you there. The egoism drive in you was too strong to take that chance.

Judy confided in you that she wanted to ask Jill to teach her the basics of shooting. But you told her that, maybe, the time wasn't exactly right for that, especially down there.

So, you made your agonizingly long way through the maze that was Raccoon City's sewers.

"Where did you learn to do all that ?" Judy strikes up some conversation as you all ascend yet another staircase.

"Well, originally, I was with S.T.A.R.S., you know ?" Jill begins to elaborate, wringing with her hands. She seems a bit uncomfortable speaking about it, but that obviously flies over Judy's head. As it always does.

"Oh so like Special Forces type of gal ?" Judy concludes, trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

"Yeah, roundabout that. One day we were called to investigate a villa in the mountains. We did. But what we found, I won't go into detail. Let's just say, it's not far off from what is going on here right now." Jill ends her vague story, but from what she told us, you understand why she stopped where she did. It must have been traumatic, you sure know you could use some therapy after this. If you got the chance to.

"You don't have to answer, but you said 'we'. Did your partner make it ?" You delicately ask, the back of your mind also worried for Carlos and weighing his chances of survival. Man, he probably thinks you're all safe and sound out of town right now.

With a smile, Jill shakes her hair out of her face, before responding "Yeah, Chris made it. Not everyone did though. The reinforcements weren't as lucky, as well as some who came before us."

Alright, you think. At least some people made it. You aren't completely lost. Statistically speaking.

"You speak fondly of him." Judy interjects, trying to lighten the overall mood.

"Chris is very dear to me, sure. Wouldn't be here without him. But, to my credit, he wouldn't have survied without me, either." Jill adds, and she feels a bit softer than before.

Just as you wanted to question her again, she pushes open the door on top of the staircase, and finally, you see the night sky.

The fresh, crisp air of this horror-filled night revitalizes you and your will to survive.

Standing for just a couple seconds, the three of you let the night cool you down.

It's not before long, that your little peace is interrupted.

A growl in the distance makes to hair on your arms and your neck stand upright.

"That thing is still here. We can't stay any longer." Jill urges, already grabbing her gun and jogging forwards.

As you reach the bridge topside, you reach for Jill's shoulder as Judy comes up after you.

"Try and radio Carlos again." You order her. You didn't mean to sound so rough, but you were scared, tired, hungry and pissed off at the whole situation, and just wanted to see if at least he survived and escaped. Maybe he could send help from wherever Carlos was.

Without another word, Jill complaintly gets the radio out, and actually gets through to Carlos !

"Yeah, what's up ?" His voice crackles through the radio.

The yelp of relief that escapes you makes even Jill smile, as she converses with Carlos over the device.

"We didn't make it. The train derailed." Jill explains, more annoyed than anything, slowly sauntering along the bridge's walkway.

"Derailed ? Was anybody hurt ?" Carlos bombards Jill, wanting to know more about the situation clearly.

Jill goes on to explain that except for herself, Judy and you, no one survived.

"Everybody's dead. Mikhail. Everybody." She finishes, coming to a short stop.

You want to say something, anything, to Carlos, but can't for the life of you come up with anything other than desperation.

"Shit..." Carlos huffs with concern.

"Nikolai left us to die." Jill states, getting interrupted by some commotion further down the way you came from.

Before you can actually get any information out of Carlos about where he is and what he does, the door leading to the underground springs open from where you came from, with a horrific explosion.

The creature that derailed your train comes tumbling out, ablaze, and stumbles its way to the railing and plunging into the river below.

Nothing but bubbles come up from where it sunk.

"Bitch can't even swim." Jill huffs, clearly annoyed that a monster that can't swim gave us so much trouble in the first place.

Little did any of you know, that trouble is about to come tenfold.

Because all you feel, is some whizzing past your face, before you even see it coming.

There is no time to react, no time to breathe, no time for anything.

Following the feeling from moments ago, you are met with the most tragic sight of your night yet.

Judy hanging limply from the tentacle that shot past you, its skin slowly coated in her blood as is seeps from her insides.

Judy gurgles, gasps, tries to fight it off, but to no avail.

The tentacle wraps around her, towards her her.

The last thing you hear is a sickening crack from her neck area, which makes her body go completely slack, and her fight ends in this very moment.

The tentacle pulls back into the water, and you feel numb. Your other colleagues died too, why is this so much worse ?

Not having time to ponder or grieve, you are ripped out of your stupor by Jill dragging your by the hand.

"Run ! Go !" Jill encourages you as she herself is very much busy not getting caught by the menace following her through the entire town.

To the best of your freshly traumatized abilities, you follow Jill wherever she runs.

You don't know how, but you end up in front of the city hall, where the enemy encircles you.

"It trapped us here ! We have to fight our way out of this one."

The creature lands right before your feet, standing on it's hindlegs and roaring.

"Oh, come on !" Jill exclaims, grabbing her grenade launcher.

It comes to your attention that you are massively underarmed, and furthermore, don't have the capibility to fight off that thing.

So, you decide to do the one thing you can do.

"I'll lure him away, and you blast this thing to hell !" You yell over the noise, already gaining some distance to the monstrum.

It's almost like a dance. Going around in circles as Jill blasts everything she's got on her into that thing.

"I'm gonna kill you !" Jill yells, to let off some steam, adrenaline, asserting dominance ? Who knows ? It works either way.

With a mighty roar, the creature rebels in front of Jill, who still has one or two shots left in der grenade launcher.

"Alright, let's do this." She says way to calmly for your taste.

You stand back, hands on your knees, hunched over, taking deep breaths. Stamina really isn't your strong suit.

She blasts the monster's face with grenades. "Suck it !" You hear her yell, even over the sound of exploding grenades.

At last, the beast goes down in front of Jill, and you thank whatever God is still listening.

Jill wastes absolutely no time and gets the radio out again to contact Carlos. You really like that pragmatic thinking about her.

Which unwillingly brings your thoughts back to Judy.

You wonder if now is the time to grieve.

She can't get a line to him, but you only half acknowledge it, too caught up in your inner turmoil of conflicting emotions.

On one side, there is this overwhelming sadness, then comes the need to survive, the concern about Jill, Carlos and yourself, and even a little happiness that you survived the recent monster attack.

Jill simply pushes you through the now open gate, leaving the city hall place. Just as you are through, Jill is brought to the ground by the reawaked monstrum.

It drags her back, but Jill quickly shoots the gate to seperate herself from it.

Stepping back to check on you, she gets stung by the lightning fast tentacle, before the creature finally draws its last breath.

Jill chokes on air, and you do your best to catch her, before her body hits the hard concrete floor.

You can't do anything as she slowly fades into unconciousness, thankfully still breathing.

"Interesting. You've done me a big favor, Miss Valentine." Nikolai grins menacingly from the other side of the gate.

You can't question him, as he disappears as quickly as he came.

Taking a few breaths, you assess the situation.

Jill is unconcious, but breathing. You don't know how her radio works, and even is you did, you don't know if Carlos would be available. Her weapons are also no use in your hands. Except for maybe the knife. But how are you going to get her help ? You can't let her lay here and hope to stumble into someone to be friendly enough to take pity on you and her.

The tears are pricking your eyes as you slowly gather how hopeless the situation is.

But you can't leave Jill here. She helped you, and you would do the same for her. No matter what destiny has in store, if so, you will die trying to help Jill, if you couldn't help Judy.

So, you gather your strength, and start to drag her towards the hospital that you remember should be close by. It was your only hope. People called from there at the beginning of this outbreak. Maybe there were still some doctors, or at least a reliable kind-hearted nurse, left. Never being a religious person, you don't send prayers, but your thoughts run wild as you try to focus on your surroundings.

It's quiet, too quiet for your taste. With no imminent danger, your mind tries to process what actually happened.

One, you worked in a lab when a devastating outbreak happened.

Two, you had killed someone on the streets to save your colleague, in the end to no avail, they died anyways.

Three, you survived, for whatever reason, a total subway crash caused by an exploding monster. At that point you feel the hot tears falling down your cheeks against the cold night air, and burning their unforgiving trail to your chin.

Four, you fought, and fought, more than you ever thought you were capable of, only to lose the last remaining friend in this situation you had with you.

And lastly, not to forget to mention, Carlos was still out there, who you had feelings for, never got to tell him, and even if you did get to do that now at some point, Judy will not be there to tease you for being emotionally constipated.

As you rounded the second corned, you hear footsteps approaching. Carefully, you drop Jill back down and grab her knife. Listening a little closer, you can hear that they follow a pattern. Good, not a zombie then. Could be good, could be bad. Maybe people began raiding and purging the city already. As the steps ring closer and closer, your fight or flight instict kicks in.

You feebly attempt to brace yourself in a defensive position.

The relief that washed over you as you see what approaches, could never be described by words.

Carlos skips to a stop in front of you, eyes you up and down quickly, and takes note of the unconcious Jill on the ground behind you.

Before words are exchanged, you collapse into his arms, crying. And not just a little cry. Full on snot and bawling. You can't hold back any longer. You've long passed your breaking point, but up this moment, your defenses were stronger than your need to break. Yet now, you knew you were safe, you could let your guard down, because your personal guardian has arrived.

To the best of his abilitlies, Carlos comforts you.

"I'm here now, tesoro. We'll make it. Can you tell me what happened to Jill ?" He whispers, stroking your back up and down. It takes a few more tries and a couple more sniffles than you'd like to admit, but you give him the gist of what happened after you were seperated.

Crazy to think that was maybe a couple hours ago. It feels like it's been weeks, if not months.

You are impressed by how he understands you through your tears and hiccups.

"Okay, you did good. Now, how about I carry Jill and you lead the way to the hospital, tesoro ?" Carlos instructs gently during the time of downfall.

Nodding, you stand up, watch as Carlos picks up Jill in a fireman carry and waits for you to show him the way.

The hospital a few roads down. You had some internships there a few years back. Your hope is that the hospital layout didn't change much. That way, you would know your way around.

The sight of the hospital is a hopeful one, up until you take a closer look.

The main entrance is blocked with ambulances, so you make an entrance a few doors down.

Once inside, further destruction is what you both face.

By now, you have no tears left to cry, but the hopelessness is still overwhelming.

Hearing Carlos grunt behind you, you find a new point to focus on; finding a someone to help you.

The farther you wander into the building, the more pessimistic your view becomes.

"How is she ?" You ask Carlos, turning to him and walking backwards to keep up the pace.

"No change, still breathing. But I would love to set her down any minute now. Lady's got a whole armory with her I recon." He groans, adjusting Jill on his back.

You take a look around, and find the emergency room. Great, you walked through the entire building and met not one person left alive to help Jill.

Rounding the bed, Carlos sits Jill down, and you slowly lower her down from the other side.

"What do we do now ?" You wonder, as Carlos takes a moment to stretch his body from carrying Jill for so long.

"Aside from looking for help for Jill ? My orders are to apprehend Dr. Bard." He states, checking his ammunition.

"He's here ? That's amazing ! He can help us with Jill ! I need to talk to him." You exclaim, finally feeling your hope return as you have a new goal with an actual chance of reaching it.

"I'll bring him to you once I find him." Carlos smiles, but your own grin falters.

"You want to go alone ?" You inquire, clearly uncomfortable of seeing him leave again.

Not after losing Judy, and everyone else.

"Someone needs to stay with Jill." He explains, slowly heading for the door. You can sense his hesitation.

"Carlos, please, let me come with you. I know the hospital layout, I know how to, in theory, create an antidote to a microorganism. Whatever Bard has to say I need that information to help Jill asap." You try to justify your stance.

"But you are safe here." Carlos comes around.

"I'm even more safe with you. Please, I promise to stay out of your way, just... please don't leave me again. Please, I don't... " You close your eyes as you cast your eyes down.

Carlos heavy boots thud against the vinyl floor as he steps close to you. His half gloved hand close view as he tilts your head up with his hand on your cheek.

You breathe in shakily "I don't want to lose you, too." You confess in the end.

The thumb on your cheek strokes purposefully, and you finally raise your eyes to flit over his face.

His face, that comes closer to your, and with the slightest nod, you feel his lips on yours, featherlight.

"I don't want to lose you, either, mi tesoro."

Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed please leave a like or reblog :D