Children Playing
No specific game: Mr. Pendleton's Yard

"This is a really bad idea," Chris heard Leon mutter as the three boys crept along the fence.

"Quiet down," Luis hissed back. "Do you want the criminal to hear you?"

"Mr. Pendleton isn't a criminal," Chris whispered back.

Luis rolled his eyes. "Padre and Madre said that he just escaped from prison."

"Released," Leon corrected. "He was released."

"For killing his son."

"For stealing a police car."

"You going to let me tell the story or not?"

"Not if you keep getting the facts wrong."

"I've got an idea," Chris said. He stood tall and reached for his gun. They were hiding outside Umbrella's lab in Central Europe and he needed to be ready. Chris adjusted his forest green vest and hoped the green camo would keep him hidden once they were inside. Crouched behind the low cement wall beside him and Leon was another man.

Chris could tell the man was was ex-military from the way he held himself. The tattoos on the man's arms suggested he had a high pain threshold. The handcuff that still hung from the man's wrist suggested he had once been in custody. The man held out his hand that wasn't holding a shotgun and Chris shook it.

"Rebecca told me about you. I'm Billy."

"Chris."

Leon didn't introduce himself but raised himself slightly to look over the wall. Leon's gray camo helped him blend into the gray cement of the wall but the steel blue baseball cap made him stand out slightly. "We are going to jail," Leon muttered, sounding like a small boy before he shook his head slightly and removed the baseball cap. "Thanks for the tip, Billy. We wouldn't have found this place without you."

Billy smiled as he accepted the praise. "There's a weak point in the wall to our left. We should be able to get in, find the sample, and get back out the same way before they even know we're here."

"Famous last words," Leon muttered as he crouched back down. "What's our back-up plan if we get caught? I'd rather not have my DNA scrambled like Matt."

"Not to mention that something probably has already gone wrong inside the lab," Chris added as he glanced over the wall. Beyond the wall was an empty and derelict courtyard and a small double door in the back of a large home. Shivers ran down Chris' back as he noted the architecture of the building was similar to the mansion where his troubles had begun. There was a key difference here though. While the Arklay Mansion likely had hidden cameras, this manor had them in plain sight. Every corner was covered and ever non-significant event in the courtyard would have been noted if not for the fact that ever camera was dead. A dead camera would normally have resulted in guards swarming the courtyard but the area was silent.

"There's not even a guard," Chris noted as he started to raise himself higher.

"Get down," Leon hissed as he pulled Chris back from the wall. "There's one guard. Dressed in black. Far right corner."

Chris nodded and slowly raised himself to look over the wall again. The guard had looked away from the wall now and was looking at the cameras. Chris recognized the slicked back blonde hair and sunglasses.

"This cinches things," Chris said as he sat back down. "If Wesker's here, things have gone south." He checked his gun and magazine to ensure they were filled with bullets. "There's no point in all of us risking our lives. I'll go alone and get the evidence."

Leon shook his head. "And leave me to explain to Claire why her big brother isn't coming home? Forget it."

"But-"

Billy's shotgun made a snapping noise as he finished reloading it. "Six eyes are better than one. Now let's go!" He said as he charged towards the weak point he had mentioned. Chris and Leon quickly fell into line and followed.

When they got to the hole in the wall, Chris' concerns about the lab being overrun were confirmed. The undead were already starting to scamable through the break. The three men made quick work of the zombies and it was quickly agreed that Leon would take point as he was faster than the other two.

The three stepped through the break. The courtyard was silent and there were no signs of Wesker. A few well placed explosives gave them access to the interior of the manor. Unlike the Arklay mansion, Umbrella must have had more confidence in their security because the labs were located on the first floor behind only one set of locked doors. An explosive lockpick later and the men had access. The labs in this compound were comprised of half glass half wishwashed cemetery cubes no larger than ten by ten feet. Equipment lay spread out on the tables within the cubes as if it was a normal working day. The labs were, thankfully, devoid of Umbrella's workers or their active experiments.

With Billy's careful directions, Leon led the way to the vault. The men had brought more explosives to use on the vault's but they were not needed. The door had been thrown through the wall opposite of the rest of the vault. Shattered glass and broken cement laid scattered on the floor. The steel of the vault door was twisted and maimed. The interior, however, was pristine. The shelves of the vault were stilled lined with test tubes and paper records. Somehow the explosion had not damaged the interior of the vault.

While Chris and Billy kept a lookout, Leon carefully entered the vault. Chris glanced over his shoulder and saw Leon checking the various shelves for the sample. Their instructions had been explicit. If the sample wasn't bright red, they didn't want it. Chris turned his attention back to the hallway outside the vault. Was that movement reflected in one of the windows?

Beside him, Billy readied his shotgun. "Better hurry up, Leon," Chris tossed over his shoulder.

"Damn," Chris heard Leon muttered. A second later, the ex-rookie cop was at their side. "The samples are gone. There's nothing in the vault."

"Are you kidding me?" Billy whisper shouted. He turned and started to walk into the vault himself. Leon blocked him.

The ex-rookie shook his head. "There's no point. It's not just the R-virus. The whole vault is empty of active samples. Someone got here first."

"Wesker," Chris muttered darkly. He shook himself. "We need to abort. Billy-"

Billy's eyes were wide as he looked over Chris' and Leon' shoulder back into the vault. The other two men turned and raised their weapons. Originally, Chris had thought the white walls of the vault were painted concrete. He was wrong. It wasn't concrete, it wasn't even drywall. The vault's walls were glass windows which showed a further honeycomb of labs. All painted white and laid out to confuse the eye. The only hint they were hallways was the creature walking down the hallway towards them.

The creature was seven feet tall. Umbrella had taken weather into account for this monster as it was dressed in a large, black rubber raincoat. The creature wore a gas mask and carried a large hammer on one shoulder. Darth Vader like noises escaped the mask.

"We need to leave," Leon said. "Now."

"Everyone, fall back," Chris ordered. "Billy, take point."

The trio ran for safety but found their way blocked. More zombies.

"Damn it!" Chris shouted. "Wesker must have seen us and left the B. ."

"We've got bigger problems," Leon said. Before he could say more, there was a shattering of glass from the direction of the vault.

"Move it!" Billy ordered.

Even as they blasted through the zombies, they could hear the heavy footsteps and the raspy breathing of the monster getting closer. Worse, sirens began to scream and red lights began to flash.

"The creep must have activated the self-destruct switch!" Billy shouted.

"It's only a few more feet," Leon said. "Just hang on."

They were almost at the breach in the wall when-

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Pendleton asked as he stood on his back deck.

"Run for it!" Luis screamed.

The trio of small boys disappeared through the gap in the fence.

Five minutes earlier

The mission was simple. Get the ball back before the kids got into trouble.

Step one: get access to the house.

"The kids I'm babysitting kicked their ball over your fence. Mind I get it?"

Mr. Pendleton shrugged and led the way through his house and opened the back door.

Step two: locate the ball.

Wesker scanned the backyard. It was child's play to locate the red ball on the far side of the yard. The boys should try out for soccer, Wesker thought.

Step three: obtain the ball.

He grabbed the ball and walked back to Mr. Pendleton. He thought he saw a flash of blue and green duck behind the fence. When he looked back though, there was nothing. Mr. Pendleton led the way back through the house and saw Wesker out the front door.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

His mission completed, Wesker returned to base.