2.

The doorknob rattled loudly, and Jill banged against the door a few times. The sound snapped Rebecca out of the past and abruptly she was back in the shooting range.

"Rebecca! Are you okay in there?" Jill called. "You got really quiet all of a sudden."

"I'm fine!" She tried to sound angry, but the flood of memories was exhausting, and had drained her mentally. She had cooled down at least, and was ready to forgive Jill and Chris. Rebecca put away her gun, unlocked the door, and went into the hall. Her friends stood awkwardly around the door, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Sorry," Rebecca apologized. "It's personal."

"Ah. Bad time of month?" Chris joked.

"No," she snipped back. Frantically, Rebecca thought up an excuse for her behavior caused by Billy. "That guy just freaked me out a little. He was a real pervert." It wasn't a lie, so technically it was the truth.

"Oh," Jill said. "Why didn't you just punch him in the face, or something?"

"Couldn't. Too many potential witnesses."

They all laughed, and Rebecca knew their friendship had not been harmed because of her moping over Billy.

"Anyways," Chris said, his voice suddenly all-business. "While you were in the shooting room, the RCPD scheduled a mission for us tonight. We're to report to Headquarters for a quick night operation. Are you almost ready to go?"

Rebecca looked down at the pale spring green dress she had worn to the breakfast that morning. A change of clothes would probably be a good idea. "Just a minute."

Fifteen minutes later, the trio was in the jeep and on the way to the Raccoon City police department. They were given missions like these because they were a part of STARS, a branch of the police department, specially trained and the best of the best. Normally, Jill and Chris would be with the rest of the Alpha team, and Rebecca would stay with her own group, team Bravo. Rebecca thought it was rather odd that she was ordered along. 'The mission must not be a tough one, since they're bringing along a rookie like me,' she decided. 'Either that or the medic for Team Alpha couldn't make it on such short notice.'

"Any idea what this mission is about?" Rebecca asked.

"No clue," Jill replied. "Probably like the last few—possible group of zombies hiding out somewhere."

Rebecca nodded. The usual. Lately there hadn't been much zombie activity, and scientists and city officials were beginning to think the nightmare of the T-Virus's effects were over. Following the train incident, STARS went on a series of missions to exterminate the infected population of zombies. The T-Virus hadn't had much time to spread and before long the outbreaks died down, so to speak. The last few missions had all been false alarms. This one probably would be, too.

Rebecca checked her supplies. Her favorite handgun was loaded and within easy reach, while each of her four pockets held two boxes of extra bullets. The small backpack she wore was filled with medical supplies. She also knew she would find an extra gun and a couple more extra boxes of ammo in the side pockets of her pack. False alarm or not, it never hurt to be prepared for the worst.

They arrived at the Raccoon City police department a few minutes early, which was good. Immediately, a young blonde secretary ushered them into one of the back conference rooms. Through the door a tall and muscled man in a crisp military uniform waited, saluting them as they entered. The three friends recognized him as the department's Chief.

"Are you ready for the briefing?" their boss barked. He had always been a strict man.

"Yes, sir!" Chris answered for everyone.

Without a pause, the Chief slapped the map on wall behind him with a ruler-like object. It was a map of Raccoon City, and the point of his stick hit an area of forest east of the city. "The witness is a woman, mid-twenties. She was out walking her dog about an hour ago when she was alerted by a scream nearby. She ran over to help the victim, and claimed to have seen a small group of four or five creatures huddled around a limp body. The woman says the creatures hesitated in their feast to look up at her. She described them as slow, unintelligent creatures who looked human except for their rotting skin. They began to walk in her direction, but their attention was diverted by something and they ran off into the woods."

"Someone else, perhaps?" Rebecca wondered aloud.

"It does not matter," the Chief said in a monotone. "What does matter is that this group of zombies may be on the loose, not too far from the city. It's possible that this is just another juvenile scam, but we can't take chances. You three should be enough to take care of them. Are you ready to head out?"

"Yes sir!" the three said in unison.

He nodded stiffly. "The helicopter is waiting on the roof for you." He hesitated, then reluctantly added, "And good luck, soldiers."

They all nodded, saluted, and left the room. As the trio jogged up the stairs, Jill commented, "Sounds like the usual."

"Yeah, I agree. I swear, those kids are getting worse each generation. Now they're starting to think it funny to dress up as zombies and scare people to death with their pranks," Chris replied, annoyance dripping from his words.

They climbed into the helicopter. Rebecca thought Chris had an interesting choice of words. '…and scare people to death…' She didn't really want to say it out loud, but something about this mission was making her edgy. As they rose higher into the air, Rebecca glanced uneasily out of the window. It was pitch black in the woods below. "Why can't we just wait until it's morning to get this done?"

"Why do you ask? Are you getting scared?" Jill teased.

"No," Rebecca lied quickly, biting her lower lip. "It would just be easier to see the surrounding area, is all."

"There's nothing in the dark but a group of idiot teenagers," Chris said, rolling his eyes.

But Rebecca wasn't listening. Chris's words still tumbled around her brain, occupying all of her attention. '…to death… to death…'