Disclaimer: I own none of the concepts from Resident Evil, I'm just borrowing them for awhile. Also, I'm broke so suing me would get you nothing but lawyer bills.

Resident Evil: Partnership

One

"It's nothing personal," she said to the creature calmly, "you could just consider it evolution in action." The gun she carried coughed once and blood splattered the pavement as the corpse finally slumped, a decomposing hand dropping away from her trousered leg.

"Ripping off Larry Niven lines now, Candace?" the brown haired woman commented, pushing her glasses up. Her own gun still trailed a bit of smoke from zombie killing, the rotting bodies scattered around them in the wrecked amusement park. She and Candace dressed a lot alike, with long pants and sleeved shirts to keep off blood and such.

Candace chuckled softly, her red hair flowing down her back, "I really need to find a partner who isn't as well read as I am, Lisa."

Without saying anything more they moved away from the entrance, past a still burning hot-dog cart and over the scattered prizes from some carnie's game. The air was filled with a odd mix of scents, everything from the dead bodies laying around to spoiled cotton candy, the mix nearly enough to turn one's stomach.

Lisa stepped over a child's body, deliberately not looking at what was left of the cute little girl, her pink dress blood stained and soiled. "I thought they had the outbreak contained," she commented, sweeping the area warily with her eyes.

"That's what the scientists said," Candace replied, the tone of her voice indicating how much faith she put in their opinion. She ducked beneath the decorations as they walked by the fun house, thinking how odd the situation was. The sun was shining, flowers were in bloom around them and the dead were walking.

Technically they weren't dead, but the difference was a minor one. Nearly fifteen years ago the T-virus had been developed by the Umbrella corporation in the hopes of creating a valuable bioweapon, but things went hideously wrong. Mutating bodies and destroying higher brain functions in days or even a few hours the T-virus made humans into rotting killing machines, almost unstoppable except for head shots and filled with an hunger for human flesh.

Umbrella, operating with a complete lack of ethics, had allowed the virus to be released, testing it originally in the city of Raccoon and later in locations around the world. Umbrella used it's resources to evade responsibility, bribing investigators and discrediting opponents but eventually, with the aide of a mole in the company, Umbrella was brought down.

Sadly, it was too late.

Sometime during the various releases the virus changed, mutating so that it could incubate harmlessly in some hosts while manifesting violently in others. Carriers unknowingly brought it to various parts of the globe, the virus spreading horror like wildfire across the world as scientists worked frantically to find a cure. And the military went into full mobilization to kill zombies and contain the carriers, hoping against hope to stop the spread.

The east coast, interestingly, had been the worst hit in the United States. It took a certain balance in temperature to keep the zombies active... too hot and they rotted away. Too cold and they got stiff and easily killed. Add in the massive populations of cities like New York and Chicago, and you got a nearly perfect zombie breeding ground.

'Which brings me back to us,' Lisa thought grimly. Her simple black shirt and jeans were chosen for easy movement, criss-crossed by a gunbelt, ammo pouches in her vest. She had been killing off zombies for nearly a year now, Candace for even longer, and often she wondered when her luck was finally going to run out. Because really, EVERYONE'S luck ran out eventually.

There was a familiar sound off in the distance, a broken moan, and both women tensed as the carnival fun house burned away behind them. Fire worked to kill the undead, hell, it worked to kill most anything other than a tyrant, and exploring the structure was too damn dangerous, so Candace just triggered a thermite grenade and tossed it inside.

"Should we...," Lisa started.

"I'll take point," Candace said firmly, pistol ready as they moved forward on the midway, the still rides eerily silent all around them.

Lisa followed her lead almost instinctively, the two walking along the silent row of stands. The moaning grew louder, the only sound that the damaged brains and vocal chords of the zombies could manage to produce. She stopped beside Candace as she knelt by the corner of 'Hell's Gate' and peered around at the open area in front of them before cursing softly.

"Fuck. It's a group of penguins," Candace said in disgust.

In the open area zombies lurched about hungrily, while perched on the stage a group of three nuns and their guards attempted to hold them off. The guards had clearly run out of ammo a while ago, falling back on using their rifles like steel clubs to try to keep the zombies away, the two men injured in some way or another. On the plus side the older zombies had rotted enough that clubbing could do some good, but there were enough fresh ones to make things tough.

"I thought the army was stopping any more attempted rescue flights into the hot-zone?" Lisa growled out softly. The military had effectively barricaded off most of the worst infected areas and was killing anyone who left or tried to get in... but it was a very long border to patrol and only so many men were available.

"Theoretically," Candace sighed in agreement. She studied the group even as she pulled her second gun, "At least now we know why we spotted movement."

Lisa held a gun in each hand, too, as she offered, "Well, I guess we have to save them."

"Got to try to, anyway," Candace agreed, "as much as I hate to waste the ammo."

Candace took a deep breath and then stepped around the corner to run at the zombies, guns firing rapidly. There were twenty or so zombies, and in seconds she dropped eight with perfect head shots, diseased brain matter exploding from weakened skulls. The rest seemed stunned by the sudden assault, what was left of their brains trying to process what was going on.

'How does she do it?' Lisa wondered as she scrambled to catch up with her, her own shots splatting into zombies. Most of the time she got the heads but not always, the lurching movements slowing her down, throwing her aim off. They lunged and staggered forward, and Lisa did her best not to remember these were once human beings. Still, they were able to mow them down in short order, the turned to face the survivors.

"Oh thank God, I..." one nun started before Candace raised her gun, cutting off as her eyes went wide with alarm.

"Shut the fuck up," Candace said to them coldly, then she demanded, "Did any of you idiots take the T-Virus tests?"

The oldest woman in the group met her eyes, still wearing the traditional headdress of a nun, though otherwise she dressed was in street clothes. "No," she shook her head, blonde hair shining when it touched her shoulders, "we thought..."

"Shit!" Lisa cursed loudly, feeling suddenly sick to her stomach as the realization of what might be coming hit her.

"Miss," the brown haired nun protested the use of language.

The older woman put a hand on the girl's shoulder, hushing her. She looked at Lisa and Candace shrewdly, "You're carriers, aren't you?"

"Yes," Candace said, her face like stone.

One of the nuns instinctively scooted away from them and Lisa smiled grimly. In a act of supposed mercy the carriers of the T-virus had been allowed to live in the hotzone , rather than being killed out of hand. In reality it was merely passing the buck, letting the zombies and mutants here kill them rather than the army. Worse, they could pass it to uninfected idiots like these, assuming they weren't already infected themselves.

"We'll need to test you all," Lisa said to the five of them softly, "we've got the gear back at the van, we'll take you there."

"Thank you," the older nun said, "I'm..."

"Don't tell me who you are," Candace said to them curtly, "if you're going to turn, I don't want to know your names before I have to shoot you."

To be continued...