Prologue

The alarms started to blare as a pre-recorded message played every fifteen seconds alerting staff to evacuate the building and to safety, the emergency doors to the lower platform where a train was waiting to take them away from the doomed lab had been unlocked. This felt familiar; the Nest beneath Raccoon City had a similar layout to the lab that Cole was in at this moment. None of that mattered, he needed to escape and Umbrella was going to pay for everything that had transpired so far, and it all started with the Arklay Mountains incident. Cole finished making a copy of all the data in the system and ejected the disc, all evidence of Umbrella's illegal biological research in one convenient package. Removing his gun from the holster at his waist he cocked it and exited the room where a woman was sitting on a bench waiting for him. She was in bad condition, and needed medical attention or she wouldn't make it. He knelt down so he could look into her eyes.

"Okay, Emma, I got everything we need; now we can get the hell out of here, we can't take Umbrella down if we die"

Standing up, Cole held out his hand for Emma to take. After looking at him for a moment she took his hand and he holstered her up.

"I'll only slow you down with this injury, it may not have been caused by one of the infected or those monsters but it's going to slow us down, I don't want to be the reason you fail at your mission of taking down this company. Besides, I deserve to die here, I may not be directly responsible for what's happened so far but neither am I innocent, you on the other hand were brainwashed, you did none of those terrible things of your own free will"

Cole shook his head and looked at her placing both his hands on her shoulders.

"You're not going out like this, I refuse to let you die in here, my whole time with Umbrella has been somewhat bearable because I had you, from the very beginning when those bastards brought me back to life. Don't give up on me now, I need you"

Taking up his gun again he nodded toward her. "Now, let's get the hell out of here and survive to bring those bastards to justice"

Emma nodded and they made their way for the lower platform. Taking an elevator Cole pressed the button for the B3, the platform where the train would be waiting. Halfway down the elevator shook violently making them both fall, getting to his feet he helped Emma to hers and suddenly the elevator stopped. Pressing more buttons did nothing, taking out his combat knife he started to pry the doors open and when he got them opened he looked around for any signs of a threat. The floor they were on was flooded with water that was knee high, no telling what could be lurking on this floor, turning back to Emma.

"Okay, we're about five floors up from the train platform, we just need to get there and we're home free"

Jumping out of the elevator there was a splash as Cole aimed his gun in every direction expecting some loose creature or one of the infected staff. When he saw none he helped Emma out of the elevator and they started toward a staircase. But before they could get to it three or four zombies stumbled into their path. Checking his gun he had eight of the fifteen rounds left and two clips remained of his ammo. Slamming his current clip back into the gun he aimed at the nearest one and without hesitation fired, getting a clean head shot that dropped his target tripping the one behind him. He heard moans from behind them, and turned to see more. "Fuck me!" Cole turned back to the ones in front as they were a bigger threat at the moment. Soon he felt Emma pull a grenade off his belt and he turned as she backed up.

"Emma!? What are you doing?" Cole took a step forward but Emma's finger was on the ring ready to detonate the grenade.

"I told you Cole, I'll only slow you down, live or die, I'm going to have to pay for my crimes and involvement with what Umbrella did, we can't have another Raccoon City, we just can't, find your friend, Chris Redfield and put an end to this"

Watching in horror as Emma pulled the ring and walked backward into the hands of the zombies who welcomed her hungrily as one bit into her shoulder and soon she was dragged to the floor so they could feast on her, knowing he had seconds before the grenade went off he jumped through a window and fell to the floor of a lower room knocking the breath from him. A second later an explosion happened shattering the glass above him and raining it down on him. He covered his face as glass fell on him and when the glass stopped he looked up to see flames. Standing up he yelled in frustration and hit the wall denting it where his fist struck. The pre-recorded voice reminded him that there were now seven minutes before detonation. He'd mourn Emma later, first he had to survive. Taking up his gun again he made for the staircase shooting any zombie that get in his way. As he turned the corner a licker jumped him and knocked him to the ground, but he was fast and more deadly, he rammed his knife into the creatures head and twisted before kicking it off and getting up and grabbing his gun firing four rounds into its exposed brain finally killing it. He reclaimed his knife.

"I'll be taking this back, thanks" making a run for the stair case he kicked the door open and quickly descended the stairs finally arriving on the bottom platform. There it was then train that would take him away from here, he figured that there would be other survivors from the labs down here but either he was the first to make it down here or him and Emma until quite recently were the only survivors, this place was hit hard so he doubt anyone else made it, and besides he didn't care, the only one he cared about was Emma and now she was gone. Running over to the platform console he typed at it rapidly until the gate that the train would travel through opened and the horn of the train could be heard, he just had to get on it and then he was out of here. But as he made a step toward the train the wall next to him exploded and he jumped back just as one of the tyrants that crashed through stared him down. It was just like the one that stomped around the R.P.D. back in Raccoon City except Umbrella had learned from the mistakes from Mr. X…a nickname that Claire had decided to call the one in Raccoon City and upgraded this one making him three times more persistent and even more dangerous than the last model. Putting his gun away, because that coat of his would deflect the bullets, he drew the sword from the sheath on his back. A samurai blade designed and crafted by Emma herself, the metal was ten times stronger than any other metal known to man, perfect for slicing through this brutes neck, assuming he could get close enough to do it. He made a move and the tyrant swung his arm into him knocking him back and crashing into the wall making him gasp for air, when Cole looked back up the tyrant was making his way toward him. Getting up he grabbed his sword and pulled his gun.

"Bring it on, you ugly motherfucker!"

Next Chapter: Chapter 1: Cole Thompson