Author's Notes - I do not own Resident Evil, nor do I own any movies, animés, cartoons, video games, computer games, or anything else mentioned in this story that belongs to a company of any kind.

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Prologue

Umbrella's Real Motivation

*Umbrella Company Building*

"Shouldn't you be in your office, Mr. Waterflower?" a haughty voice ran throughout the lab.

Yoshi Waterflower tried hard not to glare at the man or to roll his eyes. Personally, he really wanted to just punch the man's lights out, to kick him while he was down. Yet he figured doing so would get him fired pretty fast.

The man was Alex Harrelson, a man no one could like. He was the kind of man that, once given any authority or power, would not let one inch of it go without use. This was exactly why Yoshi was having such a hard time with him now, for he really should be at his office. Yet he had a pretty good reason to be here.

"I'm meeting someone here, Mr. Harrelson," replied Yoshi as calmly as he could. Just looking at his boss's arrogant face, made him want to make his blazing green eyes black and swollen.

"Why do you need to meet someone in the lab, Mr. Waterflower?" his boss asked him with a sneer, emphasizing Waterflower.' The man was a bully down underneath, so any chance he got at mocking Yoshi's feminine last name was used to its fullest. Sure enough, some of the scientists in the lab were sniggering, and all of them were glancing at the two argue.

"Interview, sir," Yoshi crossed his arms and blew a strand of red hair that fell across his brown eyes. While Alex Harrelson was the school bully down underneath, Yoshi Waterflower was the class clown. Even at the age of twenty-six, he was still an active, entertaining man.

Being an Umbrella journalist, Yoshi was able to goof off as much as possible as well. Umbrella was such an influential company, they had a strong connection with City Hall, so Umbrella had a column in the city's newspaper. Yoshi worked in the Umbrella building of Lilypad City, a beautiful city with a trademark lake, hence the name.

The company wanted to be more friendly to the people, so they hired Yoshi to do a column for them. He was previously writing a book that had barely any plot, and a part-time job at Vons. When he was hired, the people loved him. They loved his wit and unique views so much, that when Alex Harrelson tried to replace him, Umbrella was hit with letters of rage from the people of Lilypad City. They argued that Yoshi Waterflower could very well be the next Dave Barry. Sure enough, Alex gave up trying to get rid of the man that almost had as much power around the company, and Yoshi led a very-well paying job.

Alex frowned even deeper, and Yoshi wanted to just look away from him. He was, after all, more muscular and taller than him, but he wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

"An interview? With one of our scientists?" asked Harrelson.

"No, with one of the frogs they're dissecting, you lameass," thought Yoshi. "Yes, sir. I've yet to do an interview for my piece."

Alex scoffed, then waved his hand. "Fine. But don't be long, or you'll get in trouble!"

With that, Harrelson spun on ball of his heels and marched out of the lab. Yoshi raised an eyebrow, then sat down in the chair that belonged to the person he was going to "interview."

She walked in right after Harrelson left the lab. Sarah Freya. Her black hair reached down to her shoulders, her blue eyes shone with enthusiasm, and it was Yoshi could do to not stare at her.

As she approached him, he asked her, "Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

"That depends," she replied playfully. "Do you have permission to be here?"

Yoshi smirked as he stood up and watched her sit down. She was wearing blue pants and a long-sleeved, purple shirt. They didn't do her body justice, but he thought they suited her. "You mean, do I have Axel Harrelson's royal permission to be here?" He sat down next to her. "As far as he is concerned, I don't have the right to even enter Hell."

"Hell's too good for him," she whispered, careful no to let any of her other co-workers hear her. "The man grows more power-hungry every day. What a sick sight to see."

"You've got that right," Switching the subject, Yoshi leaned back in his chair, trying to look cool. Even though he was an full-grown man, he still grew nervous when talking to women. "So...Sarah?"

"Yes?" she replied as she shuffled through the papers that someone had put on her desk.

"I was wondering...," he combed his hair with fingers nervously as he started to stammer. "Do you...ah...do ya...errr,"

Sarah looked at him, smirking playfully. Ever since she had met the red-haired journalist, she had taken a liking to him. She had always thought that men like him, somewhat clownish and not interested in science, weren't her type. But now she wouldn't mind if he asked her out.

"Doyouwannabemyinterviewee?" Yoshi asked far too quickly.

"Pardon?"

"Can I interview you for my next article?" he blurted out quickly, almost loudly.

She smiled, although she really was disappointed down underneath. "Sure. What on?"

"Weeeeeell, what are you working on now?" he asked, getting his confidence back.

"Not much interesting, and it would take a long time to explain," she admitted.

"Wanna talk about it over dinner?" he asked, amazed when the words fell out of his mouth. Did he just say that?

She looked at him again. "Sorry, Mr. Waterflower, but I don't combine business with pleasure."

Yoshi couldn't resist. "So much for business. Let's get down to pleasure!" he cracked as wagged his eyebrows like Groucho Marx.

Sarah let out a laugh. She was used to Yoshi doing Groucho Marx imitations by now, yet being a Marx Brother fan herself, she loved seeing him do so.

"Well," she said, almost coyly. "There is something you might be interested in seeing...,"

"I like where business is going today!" he let out.

She smiled playfully at him for that. When Yoshi really thought about it, Sarah looked a lot like Sandra Bullock.

"Come with me now, Mr. Waterflower," she said as she stood up.

As she led them to the back of the lab, he muttered, "You know I hate it when you call me by my last name,"

"I like it. Just because Mr. Harrelson mocks you about it doesn't mean you should be ashamed of it."

"I've been ashamed of it for a long time now. When I get married, I'm changing it to my wife's last name."

Sarah rolled her eyes with a smile as she approached an elevator in the back of the lab. "I never expected men like you to get married," she commented.

Yet Yoshi didn't reply to that. He was more engrossed in the elevator. "This elevator?" he asked.

The elevator at the back of the science lab was never used by anyone he knew. In fact, it seemed dreadfully out of place, because it was practically in the middle of the building! He'd never seen the elevator's door on the ground floor, but he'd seen it on several of the other floors underneath and above. The building was about sixteen stories high, and he worked on the sixth floor.

"Yeah, I know. It's the elevator that almost got you fired, but don't worry!" Sarah flashed a Sandra Bullock smile, then added, "It doesn't bite."

True, Yoshi never wanted to enter the elevator, after he mentioned it in one of his articles. He had only mentioned it briefly in one article for a joke, and Harrelson had come very close to getting him fired for it. Yoshi had wondered what the hell had made him so angry about the matter, but was too nervous that he didn't ponder over it much.

"Come along, Yoshi," she called as she stepped in the elevator. With a shrug, he followed her in. Truth be told, he would follow her almost anywhere; he truly did like her.

Sarah pushed a button that was pretty near the bottom of the list, and as the elevator hummed and shuffled down, he tapped his foot and looked over at her.

"Where are we going?" he asked politely.

"Oh, you'll see. Trust me, you'll like it," she assured him.

Nothing else was said as the trip down was made. The elevator dinged cheerfully when they arrived at their destination, and when Yoshi looked up at the numbers over the door, he was amazed to see that none of the lights signaling the floor were on.

"They've been broken for some time," she told him as she walked out of the elevator. He shrugged, then followed her.

Yoshi had never been where she had led them. Sure, it looked like a normal hallway of the Umbrella building, but that's what it only was: a wide hallway. There were six doors, three on each side, and one on the far end of the hallway. No plaques were on them, yet Yoshi had the feeling they were offices, apart from the one at the end of the hallway.

Sarah led them to the faraway door wordlessly, which led to a flight of stairs. As they walked downwards, which was the only way to go, Yoshi started talking again.

"Say Sarah, is that elevator the only way to get down here?" he asked.

"No. There is a flight of stairs that lead to the main stairway. They're the door to the right of the elevator."

"Right when you're looking at it, right when you're leaving it, or right about when you get fired because of it?" he asked.

With a chuckle, she said, "Right when you're looking at it. They come onto the main stairway on the second floor, into the janitor's room. You know, the one that's on the second floor's stairway?"

"Why would the stairs lead into there?"

"Beats me," she replied as she walked through a door at the end of the stairs. He guessed that they had only gone down one story's worth of stairs, by his guess of the height.

When he entered the room, he was suddenly in a lab. A very-high budget, high-tech looking lab, in Yoshi's opinion. The long windows, which made the lab look like an aquarium, displayed a white, very clean lab where men and women were walking around, looking into microscopes, taking notes.

It was all very boring to Yoshi. He knew Sarah was fascinated with science, so he guessed that she found this a lot more interesting to him.

"This ain't the best of it. Come on!" she urged him as she turned right. Walking through the aquarium-like hallway, they passed many plainly-dressed people, who looked like workers from the stories he had seen. Some even waved at him, recognizing him probably from his small picture in his newspaper.

They walked up to a door that required a number code. She pushed it in quickly, then led him into a singular room that was probably this lab's main attraction.

What he saw through the glass took his breath away.

There were creatures in the lab, like lab animals. Only these looked terrible. There were black dogs that looked like the walking dead, their bones exposed, their bodies horribly scarred and bloody. There were abominations that looked like a cross between a lizard and man, equipped with claws and razor teeth. In an aquarium, giant frogs the size of a full-grown man swam and ate large fish.

Yoshi looked at Sarah in horror, then pointed at the lab. "I'm almost certain that those things aren't real."

"They're real, all right," she replied simply. "Experimented with incredible, powerful viruses. A real advance in science, wouldn't you say?"

Yoshi was so startled by all this, that he did not see Sarah fishing through her pant pocket. "But...but...is this legal?"

"You would think Umbrella would need permission to experiment with viruses and the like, wouldn't you?" she said calmly as she looked at him. "It'd be awfully hard to keep this away from the public if they weren't allowed to."

"Y-You mean they're allowed to make things like that?!" Yoshi pointed at the lizard-like man. The scales on the beast were a bright green, and its belly was a light brown. Right now, the monstrosity was sleeping.

"That's a Hunter, Yoshi," she had pulled a note out of her pocket, but Yoshi was now becoming a bit hysterical.

"Hunter?" he exclaimed. "It looks like my old math teacher!" Even when frightened, Yoshi did not loose her sense of humor. It helped calm him.

Sarah nudged him with her clenched hand, and Yoshi finally noticed the note. He took it from her, and noticed her put a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Yoshi looked over the note quickly, yet her writing was very small, so Yoshi had to squint.

"This is illegal beyond words. Remember Raccoon City? They caused it's destruction and the murder of their people, referring to it as an accident,' alone with the hundreds of people they killed. They discovered my degree in Science, and believe I work for them while on the pay. I wanted to go to the police when they hired me to help them with these monsters, but I knew they'd never believe me alone. I write this, because I don't know if this room is dubbed or something. Will you help me?"

He looked over at her, and noticed the anxious look on her face. He winked, and she relaxed. "Get rid of it," she whispered very quietly, pointing at the note.

He nodded, and shoved it in his mouth. She giggled as he chewed and swallowed, following with a disgusted look. "Cute, Yoshi," she said.

"You gotta eat when you're hungry, right?"

She smiled, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. Yoshi almost lost his balance, and felt a little dreamy. "Thank you," she whispered.

Suddenly, the door opened behind them. They both whipped around to see Alex Harrelson enter the room, and close the door behind him.

"Ah, Ms. Freya!" he exclaimed. "Good to see you...! Mr. Waterflower!"

His face turned hard and angry as he saw the employee he hated most. "What the hell is he doing here, Ms. Freya?!" he practically bellowed. "He is no scientist, he is a god damn writer!"

"He actually is a scientist, Mr. Harrelson!" exclaimed Harrelson, running over to him. "The whole journalism thing is a cover-up, and if you thought that's all he was, then he must have fooled you good!"

Harrelson looked at Yoshi as if he were a monster in the lab. "But...I've never seen him down here!"

Yoshi crossed his arms as Sarah did the talking. He actually was not surprised that this bastard was in part of this. After all, wouldn't a power-hungry, arrogant jerk want to be rolling in the money that this kind of stuff would make?

"He's here at nights on the weekend, sir," continued Sarah.

Yoshi smiled in triumph. Night in the weekend was the only time he was at work late, and Harrelson went home early. A very easy cover-up.

"Ahh, I see," said Harrelson. He then looked back at Yoshi. "Are you being paid enough for this job, Mr. Waterflower?"

Yoshi assumed that meant that he was being paid not to squeal, and assumed that Umbrella paid a lot to keep this a secret. "Yes, sir. Very much."

"Ah, good. You probably already know this, but I'm paid a lot too," Alex Harrelson walked over to Yoshi as if he now considered him his equal. "I may be the leader here, but I'm not that high in Umbrella's ladder of authority. However, Lilypad City is providing many profits for Umbrella that Raccoon City did not."

"Yeah. Shame about that, it being destroyed," grunted Yoshi, trying to sound like he knew all and saw all.

"Yes, it is a minor inconvenience, but we were lucky it was covered up as an accident, and no evidence was found on Umbrella," agreed Harrelson.

If there ever was a time that Yoshi wanted to beat the living crap out of his boss, it was now. " Minor inconvenience', you son of a bitch?!" he thought, outraged. "More than five hundred people were killed!"

"And I know you know this, but I'm proud that Lilypad City offers new experiments than all of the other Umbrella labs speckled around America offer!" he chuckled, then patted Yoshi on the back. "Have you seen the blood-suckers yet, my lad?"

"Amazing, but hideous," Yoshi muttered, keeping it as short as possible. He wanted Harrelson's hand off his back as soon as possible, as he would have preferred the lizardman's on his back at the moment.

"Yes, aren't yet? I've only been in there once or twice, but I've seen all of the labs we have. What is your favorite here?" asked Harrelson, finally removing his hand from Yoshi's back and gesturing to the lab.

"Cujo," Yoshi muttered as he pointed at the zombie dog in its steel cage.

"I thought they were called Cerberus," said Harrelson.

"I prefer Cujo," replied Yoshi, quite truthfully. Those zombie dogs reminded him of the Stephen King novels he had read once or twice.

"Suit yourself!" grunted Harrelson.

Suddenly, there was a blaring alarm! Sarah flinched and covered her ears, while Yoshi and Harrelson jumped in surprise.

"EMERGENCY!!" shouted a recording over the loud speaker. "LABORATORY NUMBER TWO HAS LOOSE T-VIRUS EXPERIMENTS!! REPEAT, LABORATORY NUMBER TWO HAS LOOSE T-VIRUS EXPERIMENTS!!"

"Ah, it's probably a drill or something like that," Harrelson grumbled, seeming more annoyed than nervous. "Nothing like that is going to happen in my building!"

Yoshi nodded, yet he winced from the alarm, and a huge feeling a dread was crawling around in his mind. A cold shiver went up his spine at the thought of any of those monsters getting free.

Sarah, who seemed calm, walked next to Yoshi. "Why don't we go now, Yoshi?" she shouted over the alarm. "It's lunchtime, anyway!"

Then something very wrong happened in the lab that they looked into! A door that presumably led to another lab flung open, and several terrified scientists ran into the lab. The windows were almost sound-proof, so the three humans looking into the laboratory could barely hear anything, especially over the alarm. Yet they could very easily see a monstrous spider skitter into the room.

The spider was the size of a small car, with brown hair and green strips running down its body. Yoshi, Sarah and Harrelson watched in complete horror as the giant spider leapt at a female scientist with jumping power none of the three thought was possible. It knocked to the floor, and they could only see her mouth open, screaming in total silence.

The spider's fangs, each the size and equally sharp as a carving knife, dug into her back. Blood spurted out, and the woman squirmed in pain, but the spider had a foot on top of each of her limbs, pinning her down. The spider's fangs dug deeper, drinking her blood and feasting on her flesh. The scientists in the room ran for the other doors, panicking and screaming. No one bothered to help the women by attacking the spider, and she was squirming less and less as her strength left her.

Yoshi looked over at Harrelson, who wore a facial expression of disbelief. "Where the hell are the guards?!" he exclaimed, shouting at his boss for the first time ever.

"They...they should be here soon!" sputtered Harrelson.

As if on cue, a man with a shotgun ran into the laboratory, pushing the scientists out of the way. He pointed his shotgun at the spider, only to be knocked over by a screaming, terror-stricken man. The shotgun slid across the floor, and the guard struggled to get up. When he ran over to pick it up, he failed to notice where it had slid over to.

The Hunter had been awaken by all of the chaos and screaming, and was now hissing and shrieking, wanting to kill anything that was living. When the guard was near, it received the chance. Thrusting its claw between the steel bars, it stabbed the guard in the chest, then plunged its claw deep into the man, killing him quite quickly.

Yoshi didn't want to watch any more. He turned around and ran for the door. "Sarah, come on!" he shouted, but he really didn't have to, for Sarah was already running for the door.

When they burst out of the room, Yoshi saw all of the scientists in the monsterless room running in the direction Sarah and Yoshi were heading. The alarm was still blaring, and Yoshi noticed people running out of rooms and heading for the elevator, for safety.

"My God...," he heard Sarah exclaim, and looked at her. She was looking in the lab, and then he saw it too. One of the giant frogs was loose, and it had snagged a young woman with its giant tongue. The horrifying frog reeled in the flailing, screaming woman like a fisherman with his rod, and then pulled her into its mouth. Yoshi tore his eyes away, but Sarah was unable to stop. She watched in horror as the frog monster slammed the woman's head against the ground, knocking her out as he devoured her entirely.

"I've got to help them!" she exclaimed suddenly, then turned to Yoshi. Before he could protest, she said, "I have friends in there, and I know where the weapons are stored. Please, run and tell the police! I'll come as soon as everyone gets out!"

She pleaded with her beautiful eyes for him to run. He nodded quickly before he dashed for the elevator, wondering if he would ever see her again.

When he reached the short flight of stairs that led to the elevator, he had to practically shove his way through to get up the stairs. Everyone was screaming and whimpering, and Yoshi's ears rang from the noise.

He finally managed to get to the elevator after shoving through the crowd. Yet he could see it was being filled to the brim with people. He was going to have to wait for the ride down.

"Screw this, I'm taking the stairs!" Yoshi exclaimed, and darted for the door that Sarah had told her was for the stairway. Nobody followed him, probably convinced that the elevator was safer or quicker.

Yoshi belted up the stairs, the screaming of the people and the alarm blaring making his head throb. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening," was repeating in his mind over and over. When he reached the second floor, he dashed out of the janitor's small room, and down the flight of stairs to the first floor, hoping and praying that he was going to get out alive to tell the police everything.

What he did not know was that Umbrella would not let this secret get out, so before he reach the main doors of the first floor, a very thick wall of steel had slid in front of each of the doors, preventing all escape for the humans inside. From the outside, no one could tell, for Umbrella had not made the casual glass doors that most skyscrapers have. It was impossible to get in now, or to get out...

***

The elevator was packed with people, almost allowing no room for them to even move their arms. They waited as the elevator crawled up the floors, all of them sweating and gasping in fear.

Suddenly, a loud impact came from the roof of the elevator. There was a horrible scrapping sound that followed, yet nobody could raise their hands to cover their ears. After several loud scraps, the people watched in sheer terror as large claws ripped the ceiling open. A horrible monster looked down at the people inside, which looked like a skinned man with no eyes, horrible claws on all fours, and an exposed brain for a cranium. A long, dripping tongue whipped out from the monster's mouth, and the saliva that landed on humans resulted in cries of pain as it burned like acid.

Someone shrunk up against the wall, accidentally pressing the Emergency Stop button. The elevator jerked to a sudden stop, and the monster jumped in, tearing up the defenseless prey it had caught, and soon the elevator was filled with blood and screams of agony.

It never reached the designated floor.