Author's Notes: Hey everyone. Welcome to my very first Resident Evil fic. I am a huge fan of the game series, and after seeing the newly released movie, I was inspired to take a shot at writing something about the subject matter. This story will be set far in the future, and include all kinds of new characters, creatures and ideas that have (hopefully) never been seen before in anything RE-related. It should be pretty cool, and I hope everyone likes it. Disclaimer: Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and all other related affiliates, and I am in no way trying to claim ownership of the franchise. Everything belongs to them. I'm just a bored 19-year-old college student who is a big fan and felt like doing this for fun. On the other hand, all the characters in this story are original, and do belong to me. Anyway, just read the story! LOL. And, please enjoy, and please please please REVIEW! I appreciate it!

Prologue

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

2065

Dr. Benjamin Carlo and his team approached the bank of elevators made of stainless alloyed metals, their expensive leather shoe soles clicking on the pristine tiles of the Washington Memorial Hospital. Dr. Carlo deftly removed a small rectangular key-card from one of the inner pockets of his pure-white lab coat, his dark brown, almost black, eyes focused ahead of him, seemingly oblivious to the world around him. Not even his trusted asisstants, those who seemed to constantly surround him like the lower fledglings of a wolf pack, could reach him.

He was above them, in any and all respects.

Dr. Carlo was considered a pure genius by those around him. His brilliance had taken Umbrella Corporations to new levels of the past two decades, and he'd worked his way well into the upper sanctum of the conglomerate. One of the coporation's top scientists, Carlo was to be the head of Umbrella's newest project. No one knew what Umbrella did behind closed doors. No one, however, except for Dr. Carlo and his team of scientists, and a select few from within Umbrella's ranks.

Their corporation had had its shares of mishaps, mistakes if you will, but they were always dealt with accordingly. Anyone who tried to infiltrate their laboratories, whether they wanted to steal their work, or try and put a stop to them, were neutralized as soon as it was possible.

But now, things were different.

Dr. Carlo had made sure of that. By himself, he'd begun to change the face of Umbrella Corporations itself, making it something newer, more formidable. An unstoppable force, and one to be reckoned with. Within months, he'd been inducted into White Umbrella, the most elite inner circle of the company, where the real strings were pulled, where the real power center was located.

From there, he'd led Umbrella into becoming a noticable force within the world. Within a decade, the entire continent of North America was wrapped around Umbrella's proverbial finger. Umbrella was everywhere: in people's houses all across the United States, by the distribution of their pharmaceutical products, to vaccinations and viral disease research developed for hospitals up and down the coasts of the power-house continent. After that, it was easy to branch out into the rest of the world. Umbrella already had labs all across the globe, and stretching their grasp around every single country in the world had been almost effortless.

He'd had to go through more hardships and see more violence than he would have cared for to get there, but in the end, he knew it was worth it. Now that he was working on Project X, he definitely knew.

Project X was the biggest, most brilliant project that Umbrella had ever taken on. It had taken years to develop, filled with 24-hour non-stop work days by people who were highly trained specifically for the birth of the X-Virus. The X-Virus would be the culmination of all of Umbrella's efforts. It would succeed for them where their past endeavors had failed. The T-Virus and G-Virus, developed by the long-deceased William Birkin were good enough for what they were built for, but the X-Virus would be so much more; so, so much more.

And Benjamin Carlo would be forever remembered as the man who created it. The X-Virus was his doing, his brain-child. His labor of love, and his one true life's aspiration. Umbrella was already dishing out millions upon millions of dollars just to see how the virus worked. At that very moment, three of Umbrella's top operatives, even higher than White Umbrella, were awaiting Dr. Carlo and his team in the lower levels of the hospital, where the secret laboratory was located. No one knew that deep beneath the surface of the nation's capital, there lay a place that was filled with so much brilliance, so much glory. . .and the eventual destruction of mankind, itself.

Benjamin Carlo grinned proudly as the elevator dinged into place, finally arriving on their level from his facility, deep underground. The stainless steel doors slid open silently, admitting Carlo and his five assistants. The doctor walked briskly through the doors, still clutching his personalized key-card, complete with a small photo of himself and a specialized modifier chip implanted inside that was the only key to a very special lock. Dr. Carlo slid his forefinger slowly across the upper middle section of the back wall of the elevator, and a moment later, a small console was revealed as the perfectly square section of wall flipped over.

"Please enter identification key-card," a female-sounding computerized voice intoned mechanically. Still grinning, Carlo slipped his key-card into a small slot built into the console. Less than a second later, a beeping sound ensued, and then all those present in the elevator could hear the tracks that moved the small room up and down change, switching to those that stretched far deeper into the ground than even the hospital's basement. "Lower-levels now accessible. Have a nice day."

After a slight lurching sensation, the elevator began to make its efficient descent to the laboratory. Benjamin felt a little twitter of nervousness in the lower part of his stomach, but he quickly quelled the sensation. Today, he had to be clear-headed and confident: the perfect leader for Umbrella. The perfect scientest, one to be revered and respected. He'd been in the business for a good, long fifteen years, and he felt that he had garnered at least that much in his time at Umbrella.

Approximately two minutes later, the elevator doors whisked open, revealing a plain concrete corridor, the symbols "L1" spray-painted on the blank wall next to the elevator doors. Lab coat swishing behind him, Dr. Carlo led his team onto the first level of the lab which Umbrella had code-named Eden. Benjamin never really understood Umbrella's eccentric need for code-names and their strange booby-traps, especially because of the fact that no one had tried to resist them in years. Except, he supposed, that old habits always died hard.

After another door adorned with a key-card reader at the end of the long, empty corridor, and following another long string of corridors that Benjamin had memorized long ago, the team of scientists found themselves in the uppermost level of Eden, in an observatory-like room that was mostly made of one gigantic plexi-glass wall which bubbled out over the lower levels of the facility. This was the Tower, where the experimenters could witness what their creations could do in safety. As they entered the Tower, Dr. Carlo saw the outlines of three men dressed in fine business suits, all staring down at the lower levels through the observation glass.

"Welcome to Eden," Dr. Carlo said loudly, announcing his entrance. The three members of the highest level of Umbrella Corporations turned to face their newest prodigy. Their faces were slack and indifferent, completely void of emotion. Carlo regarded them with suppressed optimism. He didn't want to come off as being too excitable and possibly sloppy. He was just as professional as them, only in different ways. Secretly, he knew that they valued him, even if they wouldn't admit it. He had, after all, developed the X-Virus, something they were very interested in.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Carlo," the man in the center said, his voice low but sturdy. He was older-looking, possibly in his fifties, but still looking fairly refined. His hair was the color of steel, as were his eyes, which shined with the inner force like that of a predator. Instantly, Benjamin felt a little intimidated, but he forced that feeling into the dark, lower parts of his mind, ignoring it. "My name is Daniel Fisher. These are my colleagues, Mr. Saunders and O'Haire."

"It is my pleasure, indeed," Carlo said, approaching the three men, shaking their hands one by one. "I am honored to have you here in my laboratory. My team and I hope you are impressed with what we've been doing here for the last several years." He smiled his most winning smile.

"That is our hope, as well, doctor," Fisher said nonchalantly. "Now why don't you explain to us exactly how your X-Virus works." Benjamin nodded enthusiastically and moved over to the observation window, staring down at the Eden lab splayed out in all of its glory. The facility used the most advanced forms of holographic technology, able to create level after level of various environments that were so real they could pass off for true reality, rather than just projections. They level they were staring at now looked exactly like a dense jungle as if it had been plucked from the middle of South America and relocated into the laboratory.

"The X-Virus works on a purely genetic level," Benjamin explained to the Umbrella officials, trying his best to keep things simple. He didn't know how much these men knew about biology, so he decided to keep it as understandable as possible. "We devised it in hopes of combining the best components of various organisms into one organism."

At that moment, a small chimpanzee loped into view, scuttling across the faux-forest floor, as if it were in its own natural habitat.

"Like this chimpanzee," Benjamin continued excitedly, staring down at one of his test subjects with bright eyes, the three business men folowing his gaze. "Once infected with the X-Virus, its genes become highly sensitive to outside forces. The brilliance of the X-Virus is that all it takes is contact of anything connected to the genetical process - blood, saliva, you name it - from any other organism, and it instantly begins its work. The virus forces the two genetic codes to combine, to literally fuse together, creating an entirely new genetic code."

"A virus that induces self-sufficient gene splicing?," Fisher asked, turning to Benjamin with one eyebrow quirked, sounding intrigued. Benjamin's eyes sparkled with glee and he nodded slowly. Fisher was hooked, he knew it. He could see it in the older man's eyes.

"This chimp here was infected with the X-Virus two days ago," Dr. Carlo told the men, speaking slowly and evenly so as to make more of an impact on them. "We introduced it to a blood sample from a fully grown male silverback gorilla by injecting it directly into the chimp's bloodstream. The effects were almost instantaneous. We now have a chimpanzee with all of the strength and instincts of a gorilla."

"Show us," Fisher demanded, voice low.

"Release Subject B," Carlo said automatically, signalling to one of his assistants. The young scientist hurried away to another section of Eden, and several minutes later, they watched as a small panel opened not far off from where the chimp was sitting, silently watching its surroundings. A confused Doberman pinscher ambled into the holographic environment, sniffing around, head held high in the air. It let out a high-pitched bark and then became silent.

"Gorillas are not violent creatures," Fisher said, sounding confused. "What is supposed to happen here?"

"That is another facet of the X-Virus," Benjamin explained, eyes gleaming. "It heightens the level of the adrenal glands, thus making an infected organism highly volatile when it feels threatened." He turned his eyes back down to the two animals now occupying the jungle enviornment.

"Watch."

It didn't take long for the chimpanzee to notice the dog now moving around in the environment that for the last two days, had claimed as its own territory. The Doberman was now invading that territory. Gorillas may not be violent creatures by nature, but Carlo knew that they were very highly territorial. In moments, a chain of events would occur and Fisher and his colleagues would have no choice but to see that his work was brilliant and want the X-Virus for themselves.

After that, Benjamin Carlo would be rich beyond his wildest imagination.

They watched with keen interest as the Doberman slowly approached the chimp, which bared its teeth and let loose a growl of anger from deep in its stomach. The dog began to whine, afraid of what it knew must be its imminent demise. Luckily for it, that wasn't too far off.

The chimp launched itself forward, screeching loudly.

The small ape picked the dog up by the neck, literally lifting the ninety-pound animal off its four muscular legs. The dog began to struggle, whining louder than before, as if it were begging for its life. Then, showcasing its true strength in an almost monumental manner, the chimp tossed the dog across the environment, throwing it a good thirty feet. The Doberman hit the wall that signalled the end of that level's enviroment, and from up in the Tower, the Umbrella staff members could hear the smashing of several bones against metal through the speaker system.

Barely alive, the Doberman could only lay there helplessly as the chimpanzee bounded over to it, digging its face into the dog's flank, ripping its flesh right off the bone, literally eating it alive.

Up in the observation room, Dr. Carlo turned to Daniel Fisher.

"So, what do you say?," he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Impressive," Fisher said, nodding slowly. "Very, very impressive."

The last high-pitched cry of life that escaped the Doberman before it finally succumbed to death broke the newly formed silence, as if accentuating Fisher's words. That, however, was a distant factor in Dr. Carlo's mind. All he could do was grin, and nod his head slowly up and down.