Quarantine Night! (Jill Valentine) (Poll 2+ winner!) (Full set: 80+ images)

The city was dead quiet… which was never a good sign.

Jill had been running for what felt like hours, dodging teeth, claws, and things with too many legs to count. Her boots were soaked, her vest torn, and her legs burned with every step. She kicked open a rusted door and stumbled into the hollow remains of an old apartment building, long since abandoned and falling apart.

She closed the door behind her, slid down against the wall, and let her head fall back. For once, the silence felt... safe.

"Rough night?"

The voice made her jolt. Her hand went to her sidearm, but a man stepped from the shadows with his hands up, not infected, not hostile, just another survivor. His face was calm, but his eyes said he’d seen a lot.

"Don’t worry. I'm not here to make things worse. Looks like you’ve had enough of that."

Jill hesitated… then nodded, breathless. He offered her a bottle of water. She took it. She didn’t even ask where he got it.

They sat in silence for a while, only the distant groan of the city outside.

“You’re shaking,” he said after a moment. His voice was low. Gentle. “You should rest. I can keep watch.”

Jill scoffed lightly. “Rest? With monsters out there?”

“With me here?” he added, meeting her eyes. “Maybe just for a moment.”

She didn’t answer. Just leaned her head on his shoulder, finally letting herself breathe.
His arm came around her back, not forceful, just present. Warm. Steady.

Then his hand brushed hers, slow and unsure. Jill didn’t pull away.
Her eyes lifted to meet his. And in that ruined corner of a dead city…

she let herself feel something other than fear.

The monsters could wait...

街は死んだように静かだった……嫌な予感しかしなかった。

ジルは何時間も走り続けていた気がした。牙や爪、脚が多すぎる化け物たちをなんとか振り切って。ブーツはびしょ濡れ、ベストは破れ、足は焼けつくように痛んだ。彼女は錆びたドアを蹴り開け、長い間放置され崩れかけたアパートの廃墟にふらつくように入った。

背後のドアを閉め、壁に背を預けて崩れ落ちた。久しぶりに、静けさが「安全」に感じられた。

「大変な夜だったみたいだな？」

その声に思わず体が跳ねた。ジルは反射的にサイドアームに手を伸ばしたが、男が影から現れた。敵意もなく、感染もしていない。ただの生存者。冷静な表情の奥に、彼もまた多くを見てきたことが伺えた。

「安心しろ、俺は脅すつもりはない。君にはもう十分な地獄があっただろう。」

ジルは一瞬迷いながらも、息を整えてうなずいた。彼は水のボトルを差し出した。ジルはそれを受け取った。どこで手に入れたのかなんて、もう気にしなかった。

2人はしばらく無言で座っていた。遠くから街の呻き声がかすかに響くだけだった。

「震えてるぞ」と男が静かに言った。「少し休んだ方がいい。俺が見張ってる。」

ジルは軽く鼻で笑った。「こんな怪物だらけの中で、休めって？」

「俺がそばにいるなら？」と男が目を合わせて返した。「ほんの少しだけでも。」

ジルは何も言わず、彼の肩に頭を預けた。ようやく、深く息ができた気がした。

男の腕がそっと彼女の背中に回る。無理やりではない。ただ、そこにいてくれるだけの温かさと安定。

そして彼の手が、ジルの手にそっと触れる。不器用で、優しい動き。ジルは引っ込めなかった。

目と目が合う。荒れ果てた都市の隅で…

彼女は恐怖以外の感情を、久しぶりに感じた。

──怪物たちは、待たせておけばいい。

Jill Valentine from Resident Evil.

BBC set! :P

Yoo guys,

Unfortunately, I had to make a tough decision, even though the posts were doing well, I realized that sharing the same full visual content with both paying and free members might actually demotivate people from subscribing.

I know it doesn’t sound great, but I’m really trying to make this my primary source of income, and to do that, I need to keep some things separate. That said, I’ll still try to share a couple of preview images with free members from time to time, just as a little gift and to keep showing appreciation.

But from now on, the full posts will be reserved for those of you who support me directly. You guys make this possible, and I want to keep giving you something truly special in return.

I know these words might sound a bit controversial, but my goal is to offer the best service possible without devaluing my work, and for me, this feels like a fair balance.

What do you guys think?
Feel free to message me or drop a comment, I really care about what you think.
This change wasn’t easy to decide, and your thoughts genuinely help me understand how to make things better for everyone.

P.S.: This post includes 80+ images, the main set has 41 images, plus 40 extra images.
Just a heads up: the extras aren't the same quality as the main set. They're the raw stuff, all the errors, weird faces, or failed attempts I went through before reaching the final images.
The Extra Vault won't be live the moment I publish this post, but it should be available within a few hours, so stay tuned!

ENJOY!

(If you don’t find the link after 24 hours, it will probably be in the Mega archive!)