Prologue:

Captivation

The heat was pounding harshly into the desolate land of North Africa, I was sitting at a rusted and broken down shack that I guess was suppose to pass as a bar. The dark skinned bartender gave me a drink that seemed used, but never cleaned and shot me a look just as dirty….Americans defiantly weren't liked here. I was sent back here after my first mission of tracking down biochemical weapon trading with terrorist that turned out to be a crazed scheme towards a new evolution. This time I was suppose to get read of any remaining "Experiments" before their number grew large again, you see just like anywhere in the world there are idiots that tend to ignore the "Do Not Enter" signs and learn the hard way, well we don't want the incident at Raccon City to repeat itself again.

I left my thoughts and returned to the sweltering reality and looked at my less than appealing drink, felling I've been through worst I simply chug the bitter liquid down my throat as I felt its warmth creep around every inch of my insides and slam the shot glass on the rickety, wooden counter top. As I hover over the glass I think of the one thing I believed I liked about this place, my partner, Sheva Alomar, she worked with me on the last mission I tried to see if I could be paired up with her again, but every time I referred to her the BSAA leaders just seemed to dodge the question. I let it die, but something didn't sit right with the serious expressions along the features of their faces. Again I snap back to reality by the sound of steady walking along the dead, sandy ground. Being a long time BSAA member they teach how to characterize every movement a person makes and this one walked steadily, slowly in a serious, the way the their foot scraped across the dirt you could tell they were wearing heals…It's a woman? No one around here wore any footwear so it seemed strange to me, as I heard the figure get closer I slightly cocked my head to get a view and what I saw completely captivated me.

Time seemed to stop as the feminine figure walked with such pride and honor as her mysterious attire caught my attention. It was like something out of a fairytale; she wore knee high brown leather boots with thigh high fish net stockings with a sort of rose pattern on them, a red short ruffled mini skirt with various designs, a brown corset with jewels on the chest lining and a short red hood that swayed in the breeze, you could see pieces of her dark brown hair as she continued on her way, but what made the image even more surreal was the magnum and twin pistols attached to her back and sides. I turn for a second trying to contemplate such an out of placed image and as I turned to look again…she was gone. I couldn't believe it I haven't looked away for even five seconds and already the illusory image vanished just as quickly as she came. I turned back to the counter with a puzzling look on my face; the bartender must have noticed this as he started to conversate with me on the event that just took place…

"Ah, so ya saw her too huh , the red beauty?"he said in a thick African accent, though his English wasn't too bad.

I looked at him for awhile thinking were I've heard that word before, then it hit me, on our rid back to base on the helicopter Sheva was telling me more about her people. I looked to see if Jill was interested in listening as well, but she was on the other side of her leaning on the wall sleeping as strains of her light golden hair mismatched the jerking of the helicopter she seemed peaceful, Sheva and I smiled as we decided to let her rest, she deserved it. Somewhere in the conversation I remember Sheva telling me about certain fables in her peoples history, I believe she referred to them as 'Ndoto' or…Fairytales.

"Fairytale huh, what a fitting name." I said to no one in specific yet the old, dark skinned bartender continued the conversation.

"The red beauty has been gett'in read of those monsters in the southern lands, those of which your lousy American government have been too lazy to handle or even care about, see look they only send one man to defend us against whole heard!" he exclaimed while motioning his head at me. I tried not to make a comment since he's was right why send one man to fend for himself against an army of rabid creatures. It was if they sent me on early retirement.

"Don't worry I have expert experience with these guys and plus I'm one of the best on the team."I tried to reassure him, but dealing with people wasn't one of my strong points. I heard him scoff as he turned around to fill another rusted glass with that bitter, hot liquor and slam the glass in front of me. I look curiously at him for his actions and show him that I wanted an answer, so then he replies…

"Here you'll be needing this, think it your last drink in civilization before you go down a dead man's path." he said in a serious tone while looking me dead in the face with his dark piercing eyes. I took the glass proudly, somewhere inside hoping this wouldn't be the last thing I drink from this world. Again I slam it on the wooden counter and the sound echoes throughout every inch of the ragged shack, I stare at the glass turn and leave and say to the bartender, without stopping, without looking back…

"I'm afraid that's to late…I've been walking on that path for years now."