Will You Be There

A Fanfiction by Squallster

For Artichoke, the one who inspired this idea.

A/N: This is my first fanfic and is going to be relatively short. The plot is quite simple, while on a mission Jill falls through the floor of a building and suffers severe brain damage. Meanwhile, Chris feels that its his fault for not being able to get to her in time, so he begins to get down about it. Also, it's set Pre-Mansion, for those who like those kind of stories.

Chapter One: Searching the Forest

Staring up at the evening sky as the rest of Alpha Team descended from the helicopter that was above the forest top, S.T.A.R.S. Officer Christopher Redfield let out a heavy sigh as he noticed that it looked as if it might start raining soon. He hadn't really dressed for weather compensation and since he was wearing a short sleeve shirt he was positive that he was going to catch a cold from all of this, which sucked.

Turning to face the rest of the team he watched as Joseph Frost, the latest addition to Alpha, was the last one to disconnect from the rappelling gear and then the helicopter headed west.

It left them in complete darkness except for the light that was coming from the setting sun to their left. Chris reached into his vest pocket and pulled a flashlight from it, after checking to make sure that it was in working order he walked over to where Captain Wesker and Barry stood at. Aside from the two, Chris really didn't know the other two members of the team; Joseph and Jill. He was trying to get to know the two, but all he was able to get out of Joseph was drinks at J's Bar and Jill wasn't interested in much of the stuff he liked.

But he was still trying, after this mission him and Jill were going out to eat. It was nothing formal or a date. No. He was simply trying to get to know the only female on the team, Jill was an attractive person but he was sure that she had no concern with starting a relationship with anyone that she worked with.

"So, what's the first objective?" Joseph whispered. A barely audible noise in the surrounding forest.

Looking around, Chris noticed just how dense the forest was. It wasn't that the forest was dying, after all it was Fall of 1997, but it was as if the life itself was dead. There were no crickets chirping in the afternoon sky, no howling from any wildlife. It was just deserted.

Where is everything?

This thought made him feel uneasy, but he knew that it was probably nothing. They could easily be in hibernation and as of the moment it was none of his concern. They were out here looking for a criminal, so he needed to be on alert and keep his whit's about him.

"Okay, team." Wesker said as he looked down at a map that he had brought with him. "The Oswald Warehouse should be up ahead, it's where the suspect is believe to be hiding at."

"You're sure?" Chris asked skeptically.

Wesker nodded. "I'm positive. Now everyone be on guard, this guy is extremely dangerous."

There were nods from the four members.

Starting forward, Chris slowly pulled his Beretta from his holster and looked it over. It was just back from the gun shop after being worked on by Kendo and he was looking to test it out, to see how much better it was than the last time he held it. Aiming in front of him Chris walked in between Barry and Joseph as they began their path through the forest to where the abandoned factory was at. Looking to his right at Joseph he couldn't help but smirk, the kid had just transferred from Bravo Team and already felt like he was a natural member of their team.

Coming to a small clear, Wesker put up his left hand to signal for them to stop and then he scanned the area. Chris didn't blame him though. The last thing they wanted right now was to fall into a trap that anyone had set for them, especially if it got one of them injured. They'd end up having to wrap up the mission and at the same time worry about the condition of one of their team members.

Off to the left of the clearing was a downed power line, which when he walked over to it and further examined it saw that it was still conducting power to somewhere. The thought then occurred to him that it had probably been wired to provide power to the warehouse they were looking for.

"Captain, look at this." Chris called out to Wesker.

Joining Chris, Wesker checked out what he had found. "Good observation Chris, let's follow the lines. It should give us a better path to the warehouse."

As they continued their walk through the forest, he noticed as they proceeded forward how closed up the forest was in this part. It was like someone had bunched them up together to try and conceal something that they didn't want others to know.

It made Chris wonder if this was the place they were looking for. It was after all a building, rust covered metal and looked as if someone hadn't operated it in a long time.

A perfect place for someone to hide.

Advancing towards the building, Chris and Joseph took up point near the door while Wesker approached. Jill and Barry were in the back, keeping an eye on their surroundings incase he was actually out in the woods instead of inside the building. Placing a hand on the doorknob Wesker yanked it open and moved in, Chris following in behind him with the others following.

Inside was an industrial equipment room, rusted pipes hanging down from the ceiling and water dripping from them in an arithmetic tone. Chris stepped further into the room and took the right side while Wesker and Joseph moved forward, Barry taking the left and Jill following Chris.

Up ahead was a rusting steel door and when the duo walked up to it Chris placed his ear against it to listen for any noise on the other side. To his astonishment Chris could hear a generator running, which let him know that there was probably someone or something on the other side of the door. Placing his hand on the door he pushed it open and moved in, gun at the ready and with Jill moving in as his back up. After sweeping the room for any threats Chris saw that the room was clear of any threats.

Looking around the room he saw that they were in a storage room, there were stacked up crates against the wall to their right and there was another door next to it that he didn't know what it led to. As he began to start across the room he also noticed something very wrong with the floor, there was a gaping hole in it and it looked very unstable, it looked as if at any moment it would cave in.

He turned to Jill.

"Watch out for that hole,"

Jill nodded.

Moving over the edge of the room, Chris kept his Beretta trained on the door but also made sure to keep as far away from the crumbling foundation of the floor as possible. Approaching the door he looked back at Jill who nodded in approval of him opening the door and he yanked it open, stumbling back as a set of brooms fell out and onto the floor. Jumping to his feet Chris looked at Jill who was stifling a grin, he felt completely embarrassed.

"Just a closet," He mumbled.

Jill nodded and grinned. "Well, we should go find the others. Hopefully they found something." Starting back across the room Jill turned back to him. "I think that—"

-before Jill could even finish her sentence the floor gave away. Crumbling beneath her the floor literally exploded, Jill falling through and disappearing beneath the dust that was kicked up from the rubble beneath. In the split second it took for him to run to the edge of the gaping pit he saw that there was no sigh of Jill at all.

"Jill!".