Chapter 1

Jill. Claire hadn't seen Jill since her brother's birthday party last year and she hoped she wouldn't have to see her again until the next one, there was something about Jill that she didn't quite get, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. This dislike for Jill did not change the fact that Chris and Jill were close friends, perhaps more than friends, if the rumours she had been hearing about them were true.

As Claire entered the large glass doors leading into the North American BSAA Branch in Washington, D.C. a man approached her wearing a long white coat. The man looked too young to be working for the BSAA. Claire estimated his age to be around nineteen, due to the inexperienced, youthful look in his eyes, and thought he was too young to be caught up in the affairs of the world security of bio-terrorism. He had a long thin face, his left eye covered with a fringe of dark brown hair.

"Miss Redfield, I presume". The man spoke with a British accent and with a much deeper voice than Claire had expected. "Captain Valentine has been expecting you". It took a while for her to realise he was talking about Jill.

Claire followed the man to a wide marble lobby which seemed to contrast the very modern glass exterior of the building. Two elevators were placed on each side of the room. He swiped his card on one of the readers and the door to the elevator on the other side of the room slid open. "that's an inconvenience" Claire thought. They both walked back across the room towards the open doors. As Claire stepped into the small metal box he swiped his card again on the panel in front of him before pressing the number seven on the wall. The doors closed and Claire checked her appearance in the mirror at the back of the elevator, took the hair tie out of her jeans pocket and placed her long red hair in a high ponytail just before the elevator reached the seventh floor and the metallic doors opened slowly. There had been an awkward silence between them for quite a while and Claire felt the need to say something.

"Do you know my brother?" She couldn't think of anything else to talk about, they probably didn't have anything else in common.

"Not really, I did meet with him a couple of times but he is nearly always out in the field, plus I only joined the BSAA this year". He smiled at Claire as if he was privileged to get a chance to meet with him. They exited the elevator into a long stretching corridor ahead of them and he started to walk again. Fast. Claire was trying her best to keep up, to match his pace, but could only do it by skipping every few strides.

"What do you do here?", Claire almost felt that she had to shout after he had gotten so far away from her.

"I am a scientist, working in the bio labs here", Claire thought he had to be a scientist because of his white lab coat, but had trouble thinking about what the BSAA would need bio labs for. The man obviously anticipated her question, "We have various samples of the viruses here in the building in order to research them, to be able to find out how they regenerate dead tissue and create those monsters, if we find out exactly what it does to our bodies we should be able to find a vaccine to prevent the pathogen attacking our bodies and eventually... hopefully be able to cure those that have already been infected".

Claire was confused that he was so forthcoming, especially since she didn't ask him to go into any detail, but she was more worried, the BSAA were keeping the viruses in this building, the T-virus, the G-virus... after all she had been through with these viruses, she knew it was just an accident waiting to happen especially after the incident with the G-virus in Harvardville at the WilPharma headquarters five years ago, they were experimenting with the viruses too, that time Claire barely made it out alive. She imagined living through that horror again.

"You have the viruses here!?" Claire exclaimed.

"Yes, but I assure you that they are kept under supervision twenty-four hours a day, under lock and key when they are not being examined, nothing could happen to them". He spoke with a very calm voice, probably to emphasise that nothing could go wrong, but she didn't believe him, Claire thought that if there was even the slightest possibility that a virus could escape, with her history, it was bound to happen when she was around, so she decided to get out of out of the building as fast as humanly possible... after speaking with Jill of course.

The man stopped in his tracks and waved it the direction they had been walking, "Captain Valentine's office is right at the end of the hall". Claire decided to avoid going back to talking about viruses, she wanted to clear her head, It was none of her business after all, she just hoped that those in charge of the BSAA knew what they were doing.

"Thank-you" Claire said as she looked into the man's bright blue eyes, somehow they reminded her of someone, "I never caught your name", Claire realised.

The man stared back into Claire's eyes and spoke, "it's Gavin, Gavin Barnett". He gave another hint of a smile. There was another long gap of silence between them until he spoke again, "If you need me I will be just downstairs". Claire nodded and he walked back towards the elevator, although she was concerned as she had no idea how to get back downstairs without him... he had the key card. Claire walked towards Jill's office when she heard Gavin speak to her again.

"Miss Redfield!" Claire came to a halt and turned to face him, "I'm really sorry to hear about your brother". The man reminded Claire of the reason she came to see Jill in the first place, her brother was missing, again, and she was determined to find him.