Chapter 1- Evelyn

I'd always read books about this sort of thing: "The end of the world caused by man's desire to be powerful," or something to that effect. But even as I was reading I never actually believed it could happen. I'm only twenty; I was about to get my Bachelor's Degree in Biology. What does that matter anymore? No one I care about is alive anyway.

Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I hid. The space was cramped, but it had worked so far. I choked back tears as I looked at my hands. Clutched between my fingers was the locket my boyfriend had given me. I opened it and cried silently at his picture. I don't know why it happened, but everywhere around me people were becoming monsters, inhuman things that reminded me of zombies. Monsters that ate people like my boyfriend.

Something shuffled in the corner of the room. Crap! I thought, what if a zombie smelled my blood? Am I going to die… or worse, turn into one of them? A loud metallic sound rang as one of the metal grills came loose. A mop of sandy blond hair appeared. I shrank back into my hiding place.

The man grunted and pulled himself out. "Damn it! We're not going to be able to make it back in time!" A short woman with her hair pulled back too tightly responded coldly.

"There was a heat signature here."

"What if it's a zombie like the rest of them?"

"I have a hunch."

"That's what you said last time too," grumbled the blond man.

I pushed myself out of my spot and raised the knife I was holding. It wasn't very large, just a hunting knife I'd picked up on my escape, but it was sharp.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

The woman pulled out a gun. "Ma'am put the weapon down or I will shoot."

The man laughed. "Lighten up Emily. We'd all do the same thing if we were her," he turned and focussed his honey brown eyes on me. "Miss, we're not going to hurt you. We're a rogue band from the military. We know what's going on, and we want to help."

"Help how? I'm pretty sure the military's never faced those… things!" I shouted.

"Miss, please, calm down and come with us. We're leaving the city. An informant told us it's going to be destroyed by a missile." I gasped.

"How can they? Racoon City…It's my…"

"Miss, please just come with us." I shook my head. What did it matter to me? This place shouldn't exist. It didn't even matter anymore, especially now that he is gone.

"Okay."

The woman named Emily glared at me. "Can you shoot a gun?"

I laughed; it was just one short burst. "A gun? No, I'll stick with my knife thanks."

The woman shrugged and went back down through the grill and I followed her. When I got out of the metal shaft there were three more men dressed in the same regulation outfit as the first one.

"Look-y here! A real human!" One of them shouted. He had black hair with streaks of grey in it. His voice had a heavy Southern drawl.

"Not only that, a human girl with fine legs." I felt heat rush to my face. The man who'd said that was about the same age as me, but he had buzz cut brown hair and brown eyes that were set too far apart.

"Knock it off, guys, I called her." I felt a heavy arm wrap around my shoulder. The man from before had come up behind me. The last man laughed and I couldn't stop staring. If the picture of my boyfriend had come to life, that would be him.

The man had chestnut brown hair that fell just at his eyebrows and eyes as green as a pine tree. He stood at about 6' tall and was built. His teeth were slightly crooked, but in that way that makes you wish you could run your tongue over them.

I shook my head as Emily spoke. "Knock it off guys. There's a missile coming at us and we need to get out!"

"No freakin' way," I whispered sarcastically under my breath.

The men immediately straightened up and started moving, the sandy blond haired one grabbing my arm to keep me from falling behind. Ahead they were shooting and I heard groans and roars. I knew what made those sounds. I didn't want to stick around. We ran out onto the street. We were at the edge of town.

"This way!" I called out and shook off the blond man. I ran down an alley. At first they didn't follow, but they must've realized I was right.

Soon we were outside the city and on a gravel path in the woods. My breath came heavy and I fell forward onto the ground. Blood smeared my face as I fell. Blood?

I let out a moan as I hit the ground. Two black combat boots stood in front of me. "Sir!" The military guys called out from behind me.

The man was tall with a shaved head. His chocolate brown skin was smeared with blood. It made it hard for me to recognize him. "Lieutenant Major Firkins!" I shouted. He searched my face. Recognition dawned upon its broad features.

"Evelyn Edwards!" He picked me up with his large muscular hands and grabbed me in a bear hug. "Where is Darrel? He's such a charming boy. Y'know, he looks exactly like Peter over there!"

"Sir, he's dead. One of those things ate him." Firkins looked at my eyes and I could see concern.

"I'm sorry. Eve, you've lost a lot." I smiled weakly.

"Sir, permission to speak, sir," asked the blond man. Firkins glared at him.

"This better be why the city's about to blow up and we've only found one person."

"Sir, two people, sir."

"Where's the other one?"

"Sir, he's a bit further down, sir."

"We'll go fetch him." Firkins gave me another bear hug. "At least you're safe Eve."

I smiled a little at that too. I'm safe.

"Miss Edwards, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know the Lieutenant Major?" It was the sandy blond haired one again.

"You can call me Evelyn."

"Sorry, Evelyn."

"Thank you, and you are?"

"Captain Domenic Logue. Could you please answer my earlier question?"

"First tell me the names of everyone else."

Domenic shook his head and laughed. He pointed at the woman I'd established as Emily. "That's Lieutenant Captain Emily Putnam. Don't mess with her. She's so uptight I swear she's got pennies up her butt." He then pointed at the man with the grey streaks in his hair. "That's Corporal Jim Robinson. He came with us because Umbrella Corporation destroyed his son's life."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"You don't know? It's Umbrella Corp.'s fault this whole mess started." He pointed at the buzz cut guy. "Anyway, that's Buzz Dreyfus. Don't get too close to him at night." Domenic dropped his voice down. "I saw his file. He has 2 rape charges but he's a damn good shot so we kept him." A shiver of fear ran down my spine. A rapist?

"And the last one?"

"That's Peter Eastwood. He's the quiet one, but he can be funny sometimes."

"HEY! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Shots went off ahead.

"People, let's get moving!" Firkins shouted. I began to run but Domenic grabbed my arm.

"Hey!"

Domenic looked me in the eye and said, "I don't want you to die. Stay behind me."

"I can fend for myself, thanks." I shrugged off his arm but by then he was already moving ahead of me. We reached a clearing. A group of about 20 zombies stood before us.

"Holy shoot," I breathed. A man lay against a tree on the other side of the tiny clearing. He was shooting with a small handgun at the zombies.

The others raced in, shooting zombie's faces. Blood flew all over. Brains oozed onto the hard forest floor beneath us. Inhuman screams gurgled from their mouths. The group was making short work of them. By the time I even thought to move there were only a few left. I ran to the man against the tree.

"Are you alright?" The man nodded. Sweat was coming off his face. "Where are you injured?" I asked. The man lifted his right arm to reveal a deep gash in his side.

"One of them got me with a pitchfork," he coughed after he spoke.

"Sh, don't speak. I'm going to need to take off your shirt." I unbuttoned his shirt as fast as I could and gently peeled it away from his wound. Grabbing a water bottle Firkins handed me I cleaned out the wound as best as I could.

"There, it doesn't look that bad, but it must hurt like hell." I ripped off a piece of cloth from the shirt I was wearing. I wrapped it onto his wound, then took his bloodstained shirt and wrapped it around his belly to hold the make-do bandage in place.

"Thanks, Eve," Firkins boomed. "I knew as soon as I saw you you'd be an asset." I smiled and brushed some hair from my eyes.

"Why don't we make camp here tonight? I don't think we can move him."

"Wonderful idea." Firkins looked to the sky. "By tomorrow there won't be a city anyway."

The tent was warm compared to the cool of the night outside. I looked over to where the man we'd found lay sleeping. His wound had stopped bleeding and he was sleeping peacefully. I brushed a piece of hair out of his eyes.

He was very beautiful. He had dark hair that hung just above his eyes, which were framed by long black eyelashes. His lips quivered in his dream and were the softest pink I could ever imagine. He was well-built and the skin on his chest was a golden tone I'd imagined of mythological gods.

All of a sudden his eyes snapped open. They were the clearest shade of blue, as if the sky had appeared in front of me. At first he seemed frightened but he relaxed in an instant.

"The angel," he whispered.

"The what?"

"I'm dead. You're the angel who stopped the pain."

"N-no. You've got it wrong."

"How could I have? You have hair like gold and skin so light that snow would look dirty. Your eyes are the blue grey colour of the clouds, and your voice rings with melody." I laughed. "Even your laugh tinkles like bells." This made me laugh harder.

"I don't know where you think this will get you, but cut it out. You're not dead and I'm not an angel. My name's Evelyn Edwards."

"I'm James Wolff. So… I'm really not dead?"

"No, we made it just in time."

"That's good." James leaned his head back onto the pillow. He closed his eyes. "I swear there was an angel though."

I listened as his breaths slowed down until he was sleeping. Then I bent over him to blow out the candle. All around me was dark, except for the fire outside and the 2 men watching. My shift wasn't until later. I lay down in the sleeping bag Firkins had given me. I felt for the locket around my neck. May you rest in heaven, Darrel. I prayed and fell into a dreamless sleep.