Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters it all belongs to Capcom. I only own Emma. This is my first fanfic so I'll take any constructive criticism if you have any. I hope you guys enjoy! Also, the first half of the chapter is in Maggie's point-of-view.

Interlude: Maggie

If anyone were to ask Maggie Peterson to describe her best friend Emma Jones it would be, in one word, stubborn.

For as long as she has known her, Emma was the most stubborn and resilient person that she knew. Emma always did her own thing on her own time never caring what people said about her, if you shoved her, she'd shove right back and twice as hard. Even though more often than not, Emma's stubbornness, and mouth, got her into more trouble than what it's worth.

Maggie remembers the first day that she met Emma, it was during recess at school and she was looking around for a playmate since it was rather hard for her to make friends. A lot of the kids were weirded out by her rather… enthusiastic personality. Maggie couldn't help it, she just liked being passionate about everything she put her mind to, though that didn't mean it wasn't lonely being by herself. So when she saw a little blonde-haired girl with a nose stuck in a book away from all the other kids, Maggie thought she could be her friend.

She was wrong.

Despite all her best efforts to befriend the little-girl, Emma, did not want anything to do with her. The next words she said to her, hurt more than Maggie would like to admit, "You seem like a great kid. Really, you do. But I am not looking for a friend, I don't need one. Besides you would be better off with someone else, trust me I know you would. So just leave me alone, okay?" It wasn't the worse thing that she heard but still, the words stung when the only thing that she wanted was a friend.

(It wasn't until a month later, when she heard Emma crying out for help did things truly change-

Looking back, she realizes just how dangerous the situation was-

She never once regretted her decision.)

After the alleyway incident Emma had, to Maggie's delight, agreed to be her friend and started talking to her more, spending time with her, just genuinely trying to be nice. In that time she learned that, despite all of her bravado, Emma really was a socially awkward dork who didn't know how to engage in friendships. That was okay though, Maggie could be patient and wait for her to fully open up.

(And through many trials and errors, she did. Emma had become her sister in all but blood.)

So, for the past seven years, Maggie could confidently say that she was the closest person to Emma and knew her best. They told each other everything and were always there for the other but, as they grew older, Maggie had started to notice the shadows that lived in her best friend's eyes. It was just… there was this look in her eyes that appeared whenever Emma saw, or heard, of something in peculiar. It mostly appeared whenever there was news reports on bio-terrorists attacks. Her eyes would go glassy and you could see that her mind would be a million miles away, the expressions that she made would grow dark, weary, and scared. When she made those looks she didn't look like a little-girl, she looked like those veterans down at the home whenever Maggie would visit them.

(That look always made her afraid, it seemed as though Emma was somewhere faraway that Maggie could never reach-

She hated it-

She didn't want Emma to leave her.)

Maggie did everything in her power to make sure that Emma wouldn't get that look in her eyes and would try to distract her whenever possible. It usually worked and she could see that Emma appreciated her efforts, Emma was her best-friend after all. With that being said, they had each other's backs, no matter the situation.

Like now, when they were currently running for their lives through the blood stained streets.

After making it out of the building without running into anymore of those… things, her and Emma had managed to get into the streets. What they saw was pure madness that made Maggie gasp in horror.

There were bodies, upon bodies that laid strewn across the streets. Those that weren't dead, well… truly dead, were up and about snarling and attacking any none infected that came upon their path. Maggie could see people screaming and crying in panic as they tried to run away from the monsters, but their efforts were futile. She saw a pack of them descend upon a man as he cried out in pain and horror, they were tearing at his flesh, splaying fresh blood everywhere as they ate him alive. In the hoard Maggie could see a little girl with her face covered in blood tear through the man's arm. Gagging, Maggie nearly threw up at the sight.

Her attention was taken away from the gory sight when Emma griped her arm and said, "Come on. We have to go, we need to try and escape the city or at least, find someplace safe before we make our way out."

Emma then began dragging her away, towards a back alley, when they caught the attention of the horde that was eating the man. Seeing the horde begin to run towards them, her and Emma sprinted away. Unfortunately for them, the zombies were rather persistent and were following them down the street.

They rushed past various bodies, both dead and undead, as they tried to escape the horde. They went through the various twist and turns of the alleyways eventually making it out in the open street once more, only stopping when they could no longer breath. Maggie was panting, "I think. She wheezed, "I think we lost them." Narrowing her eyes, Emma studied their surroundings, they were on a fairly empty street with a few infected stragglers a block down, and nodded, "Yeah, but we still need to keep going. We can't afford to be out in the open like this. We should try to find someplace sa- Maggie! Your left!."

Turning quickly, she saw an infected woman about to jump her. Reacting purely on instinct, Maggie brought up her metal baseball bat and swung it at the zombie's head with a resounding crack. Like stone it dropped to the ground and gave out a weak snarl, not wanting to risk it, Maggie brought down the bat upon its head and it did not move again. Maggie stumbled backwards breathing heavily. She had just killed that woman, oh god she had just killed that woman. What if that woman had a family? A lover? She just killed her without even thinking about about, she ended her life and ohgodshecouldn'tbreathe.

A firm voice broke her out of her panic, "Maggie, listen to me. That woman wasn't human anymore, do you understand? She wasn't human anymore and there was nothing we could do for her. What you did was not evil, you were protecting yourself, okay? Maggie we need to go now." Maggie took a deep breath and nodded, Emma was right, the woman wasn't human anymore and they needed to leave. So, standing on shaking legs she turned to Emma and nodded once more.

Unfortunately, the commotion they had caused had attracted the attention of a few infected, nowhere near the amount of the horde, but it was bad news nonetheless. They were too close to run away from, they had no choice but to fight, Maggie counted three in total. Even if there were few in number they couldn't afford to be stupid, she wouldn't let Emma end up like her mother.

At the thought of her mother Maggie became filled with rage. These things, these twisted monsters killed her mother, and they would pay. When one came at her Maggie let out a scream of rage and brought the bat down on the zombie's head. It staggered for a moment but didn't fall, it lunged back to her with a snarl. Dodging to the left she kicked out her foot in front of it's legs, tripping it in the process and before it could get back up she swung her bat, caving in it's skull. She had no time to rest though as a groan was her right behind her. Turning around she saw another zombie making its way towards her, gripping her bat, she began to lift it preparing to swing, when a knife buried it's way on the side of the zombie's skull.

It fell to the ground, dead, looking up Maggie saw that it was Emma, who was cleaning her knife with her shirt, and a dead zombie with blood pooling the ground around it behind her. "You okay?" She asked.

Maggie nodded, "Yeah, you?"

Emma smiled and nodded in response. That was good, Emma wasn't hurt and neither was she, they could keep going then. Emma sheathed her knife in her belt," Alright, now we really need to find some shelter before anymore come. There will probably be more infected soon and it's getting darker, we'll look into some shops to see-" Emma was caught off by snarls and groans, turning her head slowly Maggie could see a horde of six zombies heading towards them.

Emma gulped, "Never mind, we run, right now."

Maggie didn't need to be told twice, she turned on her heel and booked it. With adrenaline pumping in her veins, Maggie was halfway across the street when she heard a scream. Turning around her face paled and she went cold, Emma was tripped by what was presumed to be a dead body, which was actually an infected, and fell.

Maggie froze and watched in horror as the horde was fast approaching Emma. Emma was going to die, the thought ran through her head. She was going to die (no), they were going to eat her (no), they would kill Emma just like they killed her mother (nonononono). With a scream she launched herself forward, towards the oncoming horde and to her best friend, willing to fight towards the end.

"Emma!"

I was going to die.

I could see the horde getting closer, I could never get away in time I knew that. The stupid zombie that tripped was dead, I had killed it in an effort to get away, but it was no use. It had already cost me precious time, this was it, this was the end, this is how I would go. Being eaten by a bunch of zombies, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I don't want to die, unbidden a whimper flew through my lips, vaguely I could hear Maggie screaming through the blood that pounded in my ears.

Maggie.

That's right, I couldn't give up just yet.

I stood on surprisingly firm legs, I could buy Maggie some time to get away from these things. As long as she was okay then I could deal with this. Taking a deep breath and steadying my knife, I prepared for the inevitable end, when suddenly, I heard the roaring of a motorcycle.

Before I knew it, gunshots filled the air. Two zombie fell down, dead, with bullet holes in their brains. A blur rushed past me, there suddenly was a bike in between me and the zombies, I saw that a man had gotten off and began to absolutely slaughter the undead. In less than what seemed like ten seconds he had shot two more zombies all the while dodging the other two. They fell like flies and before I could blink, they were all dead.

I just… gaped at what transpired, trying to make sense in what I saw.

"Emma!", was the only warning I had gotten before I was engulfed in a rib-crushing hug by Maggie. She started to shake me back and forth hysterically, "Are you ok!? Are you hurt!? Don't you ever scare me like that again, do you hear me?!" In shock, I could nod numbly, "Y-yeah, so-sorry for worrying you." Maggie just shook her head and held me tighter.

A gruff voice broke us apart, "You kids alright?" Jumping apart, I turn to face my rescuer when my jaw dropped, there before me stood a man, with strangely familiar piercing-blue eyes, and in all his leather-wearing glory, was Leon S. Kennedy.

Leon Kennedy had just saved my life.

Holy shit.

I could do nothing but stare like an idiot, while my mouth imitated that of a fish. What… how was this… possible. First, I was saved from my imminent doom, second, I am meeting a main character of the franchise who saved me from said doom. When I didn't answer him Leon looked at me in concern, "Kid?"

That snapped out of my daze, "Yeah, I'm-I'm fine. Thank you for saving me, it… I… thanks." He nodded, but then looked at us sharply, "What are you kids doing out here? Don't you know it's dangerous?" He sighed and shook his head, "Where are your parents?" At that last question Maggie flinched and looked down at her shoes, my lips pressed into a thin line and looked at the ground in anger. Seeing our reactions Leon cursed, it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

He ran a hand down his face and sighed, "Alright, do you kids have any idea of where your going next?" I answered him first, "We were going to look for someplace safe to lay low and then try to find a way out of the city." He nodded at my words, "That's good."

Leon began looking around at the buildings before he turned back to us and pointed at one, "Do you see that building over there?" Following his finger Maggie and I look to see an older building that was diagonal from us a couple shops down. When we nodded he told us, "Go into that building and make it to the roof. When you're there I want you two to wait until you see a helicopter and fire this flare." He handed us a flare gun and two cartridges.

"I'm going to call some friends and tell them that you're near by, this way they can come and pick you up and take you out of the city." He looked at both of us in the eyes, "Do you think you can do this?" Staring straight back at him, I nodded, "Yeah, we can do this."

He got back on his motorcycle, revving up the engine, "Good. Now remember, wait to see the helicopter to fire the flares and stay safe." Maggie smiled at him, "We will. Again, thank you so much for helping us, mister." With a nod at the two of us, he sped down the road towards a building that I knew housed a madman and his fucked up creations.

We watched him leave until the view of his bike disappeared, I turned to face Maggie, "Come on, we should head out to the building before any other unwanted company arrives." Grabbing Maggie's hand we made out way toward the building my mind was buzzing with numerous thoughts.

I couldn't believe that I that I was this close to death when one of my favorite characters in the entire series came in and saved me. I never would have thought I would meet a main character while fighting for my life from a bunch of zombies. Did Leon ever do this in the movie? I don't remember whether or not he did, hell, did an Emma exist in the Resident Evil universe? If there wasn't one, did that mean Maggie existed in this universe? And if she did, did Leon save her? There was no way of knowing and I certainly had none of the answers. I banished those thoughts from my head, I couldn't afford to get distracted.

When we arrived Maggie and I made our way into the building, it looked deserted with no signs of life, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

(I would not be a victim of circumstance again.)

We made our way to the stairwell that went up towards the roof and began climbing as quickly and as quietly as possible. Thankfully, nothing jumped out at us from the shadows and we arrived at the door to roof with little to no difficulty. Opening it, I saw that the surrounding area was a flat, cement covered, almost barren landscape with a few boxes and various beer bottles strewn about. Looking around I saw that there was no one else here but me and Maggie. That was good, that meant that we were safe from danger for now.

With a huff, Maggie fell into an exhausted heap on the ground beside me. Soon after, I followed. Together we just sat there in silence, catching our breaths and just reeling at what we just experienced in not even 24 hours. I looked up to the night sky, in a few of hours it would be dawn and I knew that the cure gas would be released by then thanks to the efforts of Leon and Chris Redfield. Still, knowing about that tidbit of information didn't take away how real the situation was.

In the back of my mind I knew that none of this was just game, not anymore. I just never expected something like this to happen to me. I never expected that I would be fighting for my life with my best-friend in the infected streets of Hell's Kitchen, nor did I think that I would witness the person who was almost like a mother to me die right before my very eyes.

I could feel the weight of everything that happened crushing down on me. Ms. Peterson's death, Maggie and I fighting to survive a horror that we never imagined, me almost dying tonight, it was too much and I was so scared. Before I knew it, I was silently sobbing, with tears running down my cheeks and snot dripping down my nose. I cried for Ms. Peterson who's smile I would never see again, I cried for all those innocent people that were casualties in a madman's plot for revenge, I cried for Maggie who no longer had a mother, and I cried for myself, who almost died once again.

Shifting, Maggie held me, she rested her body against mine and buried her face in my shoulder. I knew that she too, was crying for all that transpired as well, if my wet shoulder said anything. Together we held each other in our grief waiting for the approaching dawn.

A gentle hand shook me awake.

"Emma wake up. You have to see this!"

Blearily, my eyes opened. Blinking a few times to get the sleepiness out of them, I saw that dawn had approached. Yawning, I asked Maggie, "Is the chopper here yet?" She shook her head no, "No, not yet. But look at this! Emma, there stuff following out of the sky and people are… changing on the streets." Snapping awake, I stood up to see what she meant.

What I saw next amazed me.

A snow white substance fell down from the sky from a passing plane onto the streets. From my vantage point I could see the infected began to… change just like Maggie said. The black veins that protruded from their began to disappear and their skin began to change back into a normal hue. People were looking around in amazement and some had even started crying.

These people were being cured.

"They're being cured." Maggie breathed in awe. I nodded dumbly, "I know, I can't believe it." No sooner after I said that I heard the tell-tale signs of a helicopter. Whipping my head around I could see one closing in on our general location. Remembering what Leon had said, my hands fumbled for the flare gun at my hip. I held it up to the sky and fired, its red beam for all to see.

Thankfully the pilots saw this and made our way towards us. Maggie came up and stood beside me, grasping my hand, "What are we gonna do now? I mean, we won't be separated, will we?" I squeezed her hand is response, "I don't know what we're going to do next, but I do know one thing. We will never be separated, I won't ever leave you Maggie."

And with that we watched and waited for the incoming chopper, while the people on the streets below celebrated their relief now that the nightmare was over.

(Unfortunately for me the nightmare wasn't over-

No-

It had only just begun.)

Leon made a cameo! LOL! Unfortunately, him and Emma won't have a proper meeting until later. (I promise it won't be that long, it might even be the next chapter or the one after that.) Any who, thank you all for reading this chapter! Let me know what you guys think! Remember to review! See you soon!