James Michael Valentine

Chapter Three

By the time James arrived at Chris's apartment complex the clouds had opened and Raccoon was being subjected to a heavy downpour of rain. He stepped out of his car and pulled out his umbrella which he opened to shield him from the relentless rain.

James walked upstairs and after half an hour of searching he found and knocked on the door, James waited for a few minutes until the apartment door opened.

When James had first met Chris Redfield he had struck James as being very disorganised but for the most part a good guy. A guy who got to work more or less on time and who got his eight hours. So when Chris opened the door and looked like he hadn't slept in days or that he hadn't showered or shaved in days either James was more than a little surprised.

Chris rubbed at his eyes as they adjusted to the morning light, he had been confined in the darkness of his apartment for the past three days and wasn't used to the light. When his eyes adjusted he was surprised to see Jill's little brother standing there. "James, is that you?" He asked, his voice raspy and dry.

James nodded. "Yeah, It's me, Chris where's Jill? She wasn't at her apartment and I read in a paper about what happened to S.T.A.R.S in the forest."

Chris swallowed as the memories of what happened that night assaulted him, the stench of rotting flesh overpowering him and the shrieks of those reptile monster deafening him. The fear, the utter dread of the invincible monster in the chains catching up to him and brutally murdering him and taking his face.

The sting and anger of betrayal and the horror at seeing Wesker being gutted by that monster and the relief of managing to escape with his life.

James was worried Chris seemed to drift away and was now staring into the distance, he quickly waved his hand in front of Chris's eyes to see if he could get a response. Chris blinked once and then looked around to check if his surroundings were real and breathed a deep sigh of relief. This was real, it was over, he was safe.

"Chris, please try and focus where is Jill?" James asked insistently, his worry for his sister was growing by the minute. Whatever happened in the forest was bad enough that it shook Chris and if Chris was like this who despite James only meeting him the once seemed like a pretty tough guy was like this then what was Jill like.

Chris sighed and rubbed at his eyes to get the tiredness out, "She's at Barry's house, she didn't want to be alone."

James was quiet as he tried to recall if Jill ever mentioned a Barry, it suddenly came to him as he remembered that Barry was one of the survivors the news paper article mentioned was one of the survivors of the mission.

Barry Burton was Jill's team-mate on S.T.A.R.S alpha team. James hadn't actually meet him yet but Jill said he was an okay guy, he also knew he was married and had two kids. The problem, however was that he didn't know where Barry lived.

"Chris, can you give me directions?" James asked, near pleaded with him. Chris frowned, Jill probably would want to be alone right now and also probably wouldn't want her little brother seeing her in the state she was in. He certainly wouldn't want Claire seeing him like this

But at the same time James had come all this way and he know that if she thought something was wrong with him then Claire would drop all her courses and come straight over to Raccoon City and even if he told him no he would probably go looking for Barry's house and just get himself lost and Jill would never forgive him if something bad happened to James because of him.

So with a heavy sigh Chris walked into his apartment, pulled on his brown jacket that Claire got him for his birthday and exited his apartment, closing the door he turned to James. "You brought your car?" He asked with a grunt as he rubbed at his nose.

When James answered in the affirmative Chris nodded. "Right, you drive I'll direct." The man made their way down to James car and got inside, it took them roughly an hour to get to Barry's house not helped by Chris's 'Piss poor directional skills' if you asked James or James 'Driving like a blindfolded, deaf clown' if you asked Chris.

They stepped out of the car and approached Barry's front door. Chris knocked on the door loudly until it opened. Standing their was a little brown haired girl dressed in a green shirt and brown pants she gazed up at the two men neutrally. "Yes?"

Chris smiled and got down on his knees. "Hi there Polly."

"I'm Moria." Said the girl annoyed.

Chris winced. "Of course you are, is your Dad here? Me and my friend need to talk to him."

"Hang on." Said Moria as she closed the door. A few minutes later the door opened and standing their this time was a man who James assumed was Barry Burton.

"Chris, how you holding up?" Asked the man, surprisingly gently from a man who looked like he lifted bears to work out.

"I'm fine Barry." Said Chris curtly, he gestured to James with his hand. "This is Jill's little brother, he wants to see her."

"Hey, James right?" Asked Barry, at James nod Barry continued to talk. "Well Jill is here but she isn't feeling that great and I think she wouldn't want you to see her right now."

"Why?" Asked James with worry in his tone. "D-did she get hurt on the mission, is she okay?"

"No! No she's fine she. She's just having a hard time of it right now, maybe come back tomorrow morning that would be better." Suggested Barry.

"Look." Began James. "I understand that you are looking out for my sister, I appreciate that and if I know my big sister I know she does as well but please, I've spent the past three days worried out of my mind I just need to see that my sister is okay, please!" James pleaded.

Barry was quite for a moment as he thought about letting James in or sending him away, eventually he sighed and stepped to the side to let James and Chris walk in. "She's upstairs in the guest room, second door on your left. Come on Chris, Kat's made some coffee."

Chris nodded and followed Barry into the kitchen as James slowly started to walk up the stairs to the guest room. He slowly pushed the brown door open and stepped into the dark room.

In the middle of the room was a queen sized bed and on top of the bed was a massive mound made up of blankets, the blankets rustled as the peace of room was disturbed and a head popped out of the mound.

Jill looked at the person who walked into the room and her mouth fell open in shock as she saw that the intruder in the room was her baby brother. In that moment Jill felt many conflicting emotions, anger, fear, sadness, happiness and frustration, eventually she couldn't find a way to express what she was feeling and held out her arms for a hug.

James rushed forward and hugged his sister to him.

Jill couldn't help what happened next despite the fact that it would bring her shame every time she though about it.

She cried.

End of Chapter 3