The characters from the game belong to Capcom.

A/N:I'm not english native speaker, so you might find some typos or grammar mistakes, I do apologize for that.

Prologue

September 2016

Following the recent disappearance of two local teens, two police officers Jackson and Smith, stumbled upon an abandoned building in woods near the location where the teens were last seen. The two officers called for backup, but proceeded to enter the building without waiting. Immediately, they saw ten bodies on the ground, two of which were the teens. Some of the bodies had biting marks on their bodies and blood around their mouths. They checked each body for pulses and found that none of them had any sign of life. When the backup arrived, all of the bodies leapt up and ran out the door. One of the creatures attacked Jackson. In a flurry of events, the creatures escaped and Jackson was immediately taken to the nearest hospital. The doctors tried to save him, but they called his death at 11PM that night, due to no pulse. According to his partner, Smith, he went to into the room to say his goodbyes, and was extremely disturbed to find Jackson wide-awake, sitting on the edge of the bed and suddenly attacked him. Smith managed to get dodge and ran out of the room, locking the door. He called for backup and Jackson is currently being held in isolation for further inquiry, however, according to the doctor, he appears unresponsive to reasoning. The case is still under investigation and it's unclear the cause of Jackson's strange behavior and return to life. There are numbers of speculations, but the most common theory is that Jackson has turned into a zombie just like the other bodies found previously. The specialists on the matter are handling the case.

It was a cold, grey day, and the bitter wind came in strong gusts. Piers Nivans had passed away, and his closest friends and family were attending his funeral at the local cemetery. Yana stood by the coffin as it was lowered into the ground, surrounded by her best friend Evana who held her in support the whole time, Piers' mother and the priest who read the last rights. She had always loved him, and had many fond memories from the moments they were a couple and the most kind ones when they acted like a small family spending time with their 2 and a half year old son. A tremendous guilt took over her because of that weighed heavily upon her heart as she watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. Why didn't she divorce before so they could have spent more time together?

Overcome with emotion – something atypical of her – Yana looked away as the first pile of dirt was thrown onto the coffin. As she did, she saw Chris Redfield at distance next to a large headstone looking as much guilty as she had ever seen. A mix of emotions took over her as the phantoms of past invaded her mind; they didn't use to have a good friendship and she never understood what Evana had seen in that man. He continued staring down at Piers' coffin, when for a moment their gazes met…

24 hours later

Chris Redfield sat quite still in his superior's office, as the man himself stared inquisitively at the BSAA agent. They were in a middle of a very serious "talk" regarding the details involving Piers' death, and the conversation had stretched on far too long for Chris's comfort. He had already shared whatever he knew about the incident in the minutest detail possible, and several times at that, but he just knew that his boss wasn't convinced with his replies.

He didn't know what else he could say so they both continued to just look at each other, maintaining the silence between them for at least a couple of minutes. The atmosphere couldn't have been tenser and the evaluative look in his superior's eyes, made him feel as if the former man was trying to read his mind. Chris felt a single sweat drop trail down the side of his head, as his boss let out a mysterious sigh. The superior relaxed back on his chair but Chris didn't feel at the liberty to do that. He kept his body language stiff and expression rigid, waiting for the other man to speak first because he knew from experience that their discussion wasn't over yet.

"So tell me once again", the superior began in an incredulous tone, "What exactly happened that day?"

"Yes", the 43-year-old, hazel-eyed man gave a nod, "Piers and I went for a hike up the mountain trail just to have a change of routine. When we started to walk along the trail, he was fine and we talked about trivial stuff", Chris kept his tone somewhat casual, "But when we were halfway there, he complained about feeling a bit dizzy. So, I told him we should head back but he disregarded it, saying that he was just out of practice and insisted we continue on with our schedule."

"And you let him do that?", Chris's boss asked in a sharp tone, "You should have stopped him."

"I did try to stop him, like I just told you", the BSAA agent pressed on the fact, speaking as calmly as he could, "But Piers was always someone who pushed his boundaries and he didn't listen to me."

"Okay, then what happened?", the man asked him to continue.

"So we walked up the trail, stopping a couple of times for him to gather energy at times", Chris replied in a somewhat sing-a-song manner from having been repeating the same thing over and again, "We reached the top of the cliff and stood near the edge, talking casually and enjoying the landscape. He seemed happy", he smiled a slightly, "And then my phone rang; it was my wife, who was worried about our delay. I excused myself and stepped a little away from Piers to talk to her. I was talking on the phone with her, when I saw Piers grabbing hold of his head and then he just…", he felt a little short of words to describe it, "… fell over. I rushed in to save him but I was a moment too late and by the time I reached him, it was already too late."

"So he just fell over?", his boss asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah", Chris nodded speaking in a convincing tone.

"Redfield, are you going to tell this to the police and his son that he just fell over?!", the man asked raising his voice.

"Yes, because that's what actually happened!", Chris responded in an emphatic tone and raising his brows, "It was all too sudden and I couldn't react fast enough. I admit that I wasn't careful enough but it isn't my fault and I swear it was an accident. I didn't do anything!"

"I didn't say you did", the superior somewhat snapped at him, shaking his pen at him.

"Well that's what it feels like", Chris spoke feeling quite impatient from being asked the same thing several times, "It's like you're implying that I have something to do with Piers death; when the possible truth is that he fell and drowned in the water."

"Redfield, might I remind you that he's not the first person that fell over the cliff into a water body", the man reminded him, "This has happened before with Ms. Valentine, and just like before, Piers' body hasn't been found as well. We don't want him to show up a few years later only to realize he's been alive all this time."

"Jill was declared dead against my will!", Chris couldn't help but raise his voice a little, "And I just lost my best friend and you're not only blaming me but also doubting his death?!"

"We wouldn't really doubt his death if we didn't have an empty grave in his name", the superior made it quite clear to him and Chris narrowed his eyes in displeasure, "With the infection he's carrying, he might have been still alive… It did happen before..."

"Or his body could have been washed away by ocean currents ", the brunette pressed on it, "Or your incompetent men couldn't just find his body and making all this stuff up because you know since the abduction things have changed!"

"Redfield, should I remind you that I am still your superior!", his boss flared up at his accusation.

"I am sorry, sir", he apologized keeping himself calm, "But I really don't have anything to say and I hope I can leave now."

The man let out a sigh of defeat and gave him a nod of affirmation. Chris raised himself from the chair, glad that it was all over now. He was a bit annoyed and inwardly punching the man for his implicit accusations, which weren't quite that implicit. He let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out of his superior's cabin, feeling somewhat triumphant that he didn't break under pressure and let himself be manipulated into accepting a lie or "confirm" their suspicions. He knew his silence couldn't really be used against him. Besides, he had more pressing issues to direct his temper at; other places to be and things that needed to be done.

Thank you for clicking the story. This is just an introduction of the main events that will come. This story takes place in different years, but all of them after RE6 and "most probably" after Vendetta (considering we don't know the time that movie takes place, unfortunately) and for those who have read my previous work Forbidden Love, this is the canon sequel but mixed with a sort of spin off, considering some changes in main characters.

I don't intend to make this a long story like Forbidden and its 60 chapters plus the spin off Tech Love. This current one I plan to make shorter, but I won't promise anything because I tend to change my mind easily when I get super flows :D

Thanks to JennaWilliams for the small help with the chapter

Stay Tuned!