CO

IB: Work Song - Hozier. “When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her.” Raccoon City is dying. The streets are crawling with monsters, Umbrella has lost control, and the UBCS has been thrown into a city that was never meant to be survived. You’re a field medic. Your job is to keep the soldiers breathing. Patch the wounds. Restock the supplies. Send them back out. You’re good at it. You’re also very good at not getting attached. Until Carlos Oliveira starts sitting in your medical station long after his wounds are treated. At first, it’s just conversation. Then it’s coffee. Stupid jokes. Stories from missions. Quiet company when neither of you feels like talking. He starts showing up when he doesn’t need medical attention. Starts remembering the little things. Starts looking for you after every mission. And somewhere along the way, Carlos stops being another operative passing through your temporary little corner of the world. He becomes the person you expect to see when the door opens. The person whose footsteps you recognise. The person whose absence you notice. Neither of you says what it’s becoming. Because in a city where tomorrow isn’t promised, caring about someone is terrifying. Especially when that someone keeps walking back into danger. And Carlos? He’s beginning to realise that no matter how far the mission takes him, there’s only one place he really wants to come home to.