And this chapter came to me like... super fast... I know, over a week doesn't seem like super fast, but trust me... over half this chapter was written in the time between noon yesterday, and now... and most of that was done today... It's amazing what a simple article in Game Informer will do for your writing, isn't it?

Anyway... Not much in the way of Billy/Beckyness this chap, but there's some Leon/Ada sparkage to make up for it :p

There's also some actual PLOT in this one, so no worries.

thanks to Jowy Avilon and Ren for reviewing last chapter!

Chapter Six

Las Vegas, NV

July 28th, 2008, ??

Walking fifteen blocks, in a flooded, zombie-infested city in the middle of the night, while it was pitch black out, no less, wasn't something Rebecca was going to be suggesting as a relaxing activity any time soon. Halfway to Caine's apartment, the streets had been filled with either abandoned or wrecked cars, making it impossible to get through, via driving. So, on foot they went, through the flooded streets... And they'd had enough close calls to last Rebecca a life-time. In the dark, it was difficult to tell, until you were too close for comfort, who was dead, and who was alive.

Rebecca was well aware of the fact she was trembling, she was also well aware that it had nothing to do with the fact that she was soaking wet. She was terrified, she was furious, she was frustrated and she was worried about her friends, all of which had her shaking from her inability to express any of it properly.

Though on the bright side, it wasn't raining...

"Finally," Rebecca half-sighed the word, as she caught sight of the apartment building where Caine lived. They'd have to be quick; the place was likely crawling with the zombies. Get Caine, get out, and get to Leon, then get out of the city... There wasn't much that could be done, now.

"Rebecca!" a voice hissed from a cluster of bushes near by, making Rebecca and Billy both jump. Rebecca turned towards the bushes, and found herself being blinded by the beam of a LED flashlight.

"Ah, jeez, turn that off!" Billy growled. Apparently he was getting the same treatment.

"Oh, sorry," said the voice, as the owner moved out of the bushes; Caine. "Jus' wanted t' make sure ya weren't dead, or nothin'... Kin'a hard t' see out here, if ya ain't noticed."

"We'd noticed," Rebecca replied, attempting to blink away the bright flashes of green and blue that were obscuring her vision, "You're okay?"

"Yup... Neighbor screamin' woke me up... I was jus' about t' head off t' yer place, make sure ya were alright when I saw ya on th' sidewalk... Don' wanna go in th' buildin'... Crawlin' with th' buggers. Ever'one that was sick th' past week is deader'n a doornail."

"And I'm betting it wasn't 'cause of the flu," Billy muttered under his breath, as he reached for his lighter, and cigarettes. Lighting one, he asked, "So, Doll, where's Leon gonna be?"

"Not at home," Caine answered for Rebecca, "Mind if I have one'a those?" the question was asked with a nod at the lit cigarette. He continued, as Billy handed him the pack, and the lighter, "He jus' left here, a few minutes ago. Said he was gonna see about helpin' th' idiot cops, while I wen' after you two..."

"Wonderful," said Rebecca, "That's another long walk... and in the opposite direction of the way out..." She paused, and sighed, "Well, may as well get going... Maybe we can catch him before he gets too far ahead of us..."

Las Vegas Police Department

Unfortunately, they did not manage to catch up to Leon in time, and over and hour after they'd set out to search for him, trio found themselves in front of a very different looking LVPD. The glass main doors had been shattered- which was quite a feat, as they had supposedly been shatter-proof. There were bodies strewn about the entrance; none of which looked like the work of zombies... They had been torn to shreds in a way that wasn't possible for any human to do. Billy found himself feeling slightly green at the sheer amount of blood and random body parts that were strewn about. Bodies reminded him of the massacre he'd witnessed in Africa. Even eleven years later, he still had nightmares about that...

"Please tell me neither of you see Leon," Rebecca said, looking as though she were about to hurl. She looked down at her feet, when she stepped on something, and gagged when she realized it was chunks of flesh.

Whatever had done this, it had a violent streak.

"No, no Leon," Caine responded. Billy couldn't see him, as the man was behind him, but he sounded as green as Billy felt, and Rebecca looked, "Do we really wanna go in there?"

"Not really," Billy said, as they continued to head for the shattered doors. He'd never been the squeamish type, but the ground was completely covered in blood, and just glancing about quickly, there were at least forty bodies, and none of them were in one piece. Judging from the clothing on the torsos that were left, most were cop.

Inside the station, things didn't get much better. Whatever had killed everyone outside had decided to give the same treatment to those inside as well. The building was silent, save for the buzzing of a few flies, and the steady drip drip drip of blood falling onto the tile floor, from a decapitated corpse that was strewn over a table... Billy tightened his grip on his gun, and continued to move forward. With any luck, whatever had done all of this was gone... And hopefully Leon hadn't been there when whatever it was had been. There was a crash from ahead, like someone, or something, had knocked something over. The trio froze, waiting to see if the noise continued, or if whatever had made it was going to come out. Nothing. Even slower than before they continued forward, this time with the knowledge that they definitely weren't alone in the building...

Catching sight of movement in the room at the end of the hall, Billy ignored the door he passed, and didn't even have time to register that Rebecca had shouted at him before something heavy slammed into him from behind.

The Strip

"She took off an hour ago, boss," Eben was saying to his headset, on the other end of which was Wesker, "I haven't found Chambers, and Coen yet, but Ada will take care of Kennedy."

Good... Does she know? came the slightly staticy reply.

"No, sir, though I think she suspects there's been a change of plans."

That was inevitable. She doesn't know you can track her?

"Nope... When do you want them?" He needed to know the kind of time-frame he was dealing with, so he could fine-tune his plan, and know when he could improvise, and when he had no choice but to follow it to the letter.

Keep them in the city until dawn tomorrow... I want as much time as possible to observe how the experiments handle experienced combatants... Especially SB-023.

SB-023, nicknamed "Stevie" by the scientists. Eben had never asked why, because he'd found early on that many of Wesker's employees had an even sicker sense of humor than he did, and he hadn't been sure he'd wanted to know the origins of "Stevie". He still didn't want to know. "That won't be easy, sir... They'll be determined to leave as quickly as possible."

Separate them if you get the chance. They won't leave one of their little group behind.

"Alright... Until tomorrow, Boss... Eben out," without waiting for a reply, Eben pulled his headset off, and shoved it in one of the empty ammo pouches on his belt. He'd've had his tactical vest, but part of his plan required that he look at least semi-civilian. He could have tried to pass himself off as a cop, but what little information he had on Chambers that was current told him that she was a coroner for the LVPD. He had no idea if she kept to herself, or if she knew just about everyone on the force, and would hence be able to call him on his bluff. It wasn't a risk he was willing to take, so a civvy, with a fair knowledge of weapons it was.

He briefly checked the small bit of technology that was strapped to his wrist; it was easily passed as a watch, but in reality, it let him know exactly where Ada was, at any point in time. Right then, she was close to the hospital; Desert Palms. Good, that put her a good distance from where he was heading. Wesker's various surveillance systems around the city were still active- running on a separate power source than the city its self- and as such, he knew that Chambers, Coen, and Caine were at the police department, or had been a few minutes ago. Why their first inclination had been to go there, he didn't know, but he did know that if it'd been him, he'd have been out of the city by then...

"And yet here I stand," he said to himself, "About to go deeper into a monster-infested city... " He shrugged as if it were no big deal, made sure his weapons were fully loaded, and started the trek towards his targets. It was going to be a long day...

LVPD

Rebecca had started to warn Billy to look out before she even fully registered that she'd seen movement, but apparently that wasn't quite fast enough, for what she'd seen moving still lept at him. She very nearly shot the "something" thinking it was a zombie, but two things stopped her. One, the supposed zombie was shouting, and two, she recognized the mop of curly brown hair.

"Toby!" she almost yelled, moving forward, grabbing the back of his shirt, and yanking him off of Billy, choking him in the process. She had, however, underestimated Toby's state of panic, for she was very nearly tackled as Billy had been. This was stopped only by Billy having regained his balance, and grabbing the man who'd attacked him, before he got very far in his attempt to do the same to Rebecca.

"GET OFF M-OW!" Toby was cut off when Billy roughly yanked his arms behind his back, and twisted them in such a way that even Caine grimaced.

"Little hint, buddy," said Billy, forcing Toby to the ground, "Don't wanna get hurt; don't jump people."

"Alright, alright! Let me up!" Toby whined, trying desperately to escape Billy's grip.

"Why should 'e?" said Caine, whom knew Toby, and seemed quite amused to see him in pain, "We'd be well within our rights t' shoot ya fer that little stunt, boy."

"I almost did," said Rebecca.

"Rebecca?" apparently Toby hadn't heard her before. He turned his head to quite to awkward angle to try and see her.

"Yeah," Rebecca replied, "Are you going to be nice?" Toby nodded as best as he could being pressed to the floor, "May as well let him up," she said to Billy, with a shrug.

Billy did so, and Toby sprang to his feet, looking as though he was considering starting a fight. He settled with simply glaring, and dusting off his blood-splattered clothes. "I didn't think you'd still be alive," the scrawny man finally said, obviously referring to Rebecca.

"You shouldn't underestimate me... What happened here?"

Toby shrugged, as if to say "I dunno".

"What happened?" That was Billy, and there was a slightly menacing undertone to his voice, though whether that was because he'd already had a really bad morning, and Toby had only made it worse, or because he'd made the connection between this Toby, and the ex Rebecca had mentioned, she didn't know.

Toby seemed to shrink under Billy's gaze, and he reluctantly replied, "A couple hours ago, the people in the building who'd been sick just started dropping like flies... But they got back up, and started attacking everyone else, like they were z-... No, that's just crazy..."

"Zombies," Rebecca said the word for him, "Yes, that's what they are. Go on."

Toby blinked at her for a second, as if wondering how she knew what they were, but continued, despite his confusion; "Bunch of people were torn apart, but eventually the cops managed to get rid of most of them... Then almost two hours after the power plant went up something started attacking the people, and the z... zombies outside... Then it came in here, and did the same... I hid in the bathroom... didn't come out till I heard voices..."

Rebecca perked up at that. None of them had spoken once inside the building, so it couldn't have been them that he'd heard, "Did you see who it was?"

"Some dude... blond, armed to the teeth... Took off with some chick, before I could get their attention... Not that I can blame him... She was hot..."

"Sounds like Leon," said Billy, "Dunno about the woman though... Which direction did they go?"

"Towards the hospital," Toby replied, "Now someone tell me what the fuck is going on!"

"It's a long story," said Rebecca, "And it'll have to wait. We need to see if we can catch Leon... The sooner we get out of town, the better." As she spoke, she reloaded her handgun, as she hadn't had the chance, since the group of zombies that had taken most of that mag. Now, there were no zombies around, and the place was relatively safe, so she may as well get it done.

Toby watched in amazement at the ease with which she handled the weapon. Rebecca knew for a fact that he had been under the impression that she was a helpless little girl, who needed someone to protect her... Much like just about every other man she'd met. Billy was included in that list, though he'd eventually come to the realization that she was tougher than she seemed.

"Going or staying?" Billy interrupted Toby's staring, "If you're going, grab a gun, and be quick about it."

Toby nodded, and did as he was told. Something that shocked Rebecca. He'd barely listened to Doc Robbins, who could have easily fired him, and here he was, listening to Billy, without so much as a word of protest. Miracles do happen... Let's hope he'll continue to be silent...

Ada had almost forgotten that she wasn't alone, by the time Desert Palms came into view. Leon hadn't said a word since they'd left the police station. It was really starting to unnerve her, since in the past, he'd always had something to say, even if she didn't let him get around to actually saying it. Now, here they were, actually working together for the first time in nearly ten years, and he was silent. The mission in Spain didn't count. Sure, they'd saved each other's asses, sure they'd had a few brief conversations, but they hadn't actually been working together... Not like they had in Raccoon City. Leon hadn't had much to say when she'd found him in the ruined police department, either. He'd asked her what she was doing there- much harsh language included- and mumbled an agreement to her proposal that they stick together... Beyond that; not a word. And at the moment, there wasn't much she could do to remedy the situation, because there was a massive group of zombies ahead of them. For the moment, they were concerned with munching on another carcass, but if there was one thing Ada knew about zombies, it was that they would often leave an already dead meal for a live one.

Without a word Leon raised his riot gun, and blew two of the zombies' heads to bits at once. The sudden noise made Ada jump, and made the remaining corpses look about with their dead eyes, as if confused... If they even had the brain power to be confused. Leon gave the same treatment to three more of the rotting beings, again, with one shot. Ada considered telling him to keep the head shots up, but she would no doubt have gotten a "I know what the hell I'm doing" look. Though it was important to make sure that there was SOMETHING buried firmly in the things' brains, lest they came back again, as the beings that had been nicknamed Crimson Heads... Even worse, a second failure to destroy the head could result in a slightly varied form of Licker... Slightly less intelligent, and not as powerful as one that was created on purpose, but still dangerous all the same.

Deciding that Leon had everything under control, Ada stood to the side, and let him take care of business. Watching him, she felt old, familiar feelings starting to build up. During the rare moments when she was being at least semi-honest with herself, she would admit that the feelings she had for the man in front of her had the potential to be love. When she was being completely honest with herself, she could admit that they already were; that they were as strong, if not stronger than they had been when she'd let her mask slip, as she was dying, and told him those simple, yet horrid words... I'm... Just a woman who fell in love with you... It was because of that little slip that she was unable to fully "switch off" when she was around Leon... And worse, he knew it.

"Ada."

Simply the sound of his voice was enough to jerk her from her thoughts, as though she'd been slapped. Leon stood amidst the now mostly-headless- she allowed herself a small mental chuckle as her brain sailed smoothly from Mostly-Headless Zombies to Nearly-Headless Nick- looking at her as though she was crazy. Perhaps she was... Who in their right mind went on a trip down memory and contemplation lane when there were zombies getting their heads blown off not ten feet away?

"What?" Ada asked, slipping easily back into her cold-hearted bitch disguise. It was more to keep herself in control than him. After all, he could see through it.

"You said there was something you needed from the hospital," Leon replied, with a shrug, as if it didn't matter to him, "We're there."

"Oh, right," Ada mumbled, as she headed for the entrance. She could hear Leon following her, "This will only take a minute," she said over her shoulder, "Just... wait here, I'll be back."

Leon reached out, and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. Ada willed herself to ignore the little jolts of electricity she felt when his skin met hers. "Will you?"

So that was it. He was afraid she was going to vanish in the building, and not return. Perhaps in the past that would have been her intention, but tonight, her first agenda was to make sure Leon got out safe... But, she needed to get one thing from the hospital. "Yes..." she replied softly, letting her bitch-facade fall away, as she intertwined her fingers with his, and squeezing his hand gently, "I'll be back."

As she spoke, she saw something she hadn't seen before; a small glimmer of hope in those pale blue eyes of his... Hope that maybe there was something between them that could be made to work... And suddenly, Ada found herself more terrified of Leon than anything else in the dying city; because secretly, in the very smallest corner of her mind, it was a hope she shared. Suddenly stiffening, and willing herself to remain detached, Ada pulled her hand from Leon's, muttered a "be back soon" and left him there on the front steps of the building.

Wesker sat in his computer room, watching the events in several places, at once. There was a room like this in every one of his labs, each one equipped to show him either the local surveillance on a particular city, or use the massive satellites he now hand control of to monitor other areas. He could also access the main computers- the Red and White Queens- from any of them. The Queens were hidden, of course, in locations that only he, and a select few others knew of. Actually, only he knew the location of the Red Queen. She was the important one. The White Queen was the secondary operator, if she was destroyed, she could be rebuilt... But Red Queen; if she was destroyed, there was no regaining the information that would be lost. All else could be destroyed, but as long as the Red Queen remained intact, Umbrella/Phoenix could be rebuilt, from the ashes.

But, both Queens were safe, so there was no point in dwelling on them. No, Wesker was far more interested in what was going on with his two current experiments. Coen, Chambers, and Caine had picked up another stray, and were, to all appearances, trying to track down Kennedy. Eben wasn't too far behind them, and would hopefully distract them long enough to keep them from catching up to Ada, and Kennedy... Speaking of which...

"Ada, my dear, what are you up to?" Wesker asked aloud, not caring that he was talking to himself. She was at the hospital, which could only mean one thing, "Oh, you can't possibly be thinking of trying that... Do you really think I'm going to let you just waltz out of the city, with something so important?"

He laughed, at that. If Ada really thought she was going to walk out of Vegas, important item, or no... It was almost as amusing as what was transpiring on another screen. He had surveillance around every main lab, though it was always kept hidden, so the two figures had no idea they were being watched.

We should just get out of here, and go home Claire Redfield was arguing with her brother, in the middle of a small African village that Wesker intended to be their grave. He took the time to notice that Claire could have almost passed for a native. The sun had tanned her intensely in the few days she'd been there, and somewhere along the way, she'd acquired a few pieces of the local jewelry. Yes, could have passed for a native, if not for the shotgun she was tapping impatiently against her thigh, and the clothes she wore... particularly the bright white jeans...

Claire, there's something here Chris responded, Go home, I'll be back in a couple of days. You don't need to be here.

Bullshit I don't! What if there is something here, and you get into trouble? What then?

I'll get out of it... I don't want you in danger...Go home... Or, L.A. would probably be safer. It doesn't matter, just get your ass in gear, and get out of here.

Christopher Micheal, stop treating me like Goddamn kid-

Wesker silenced it, after that. Whilst the sibling squabble was amusing, he had other things to worry about... Like orchestrating the siblings' death.

Receiving video transmission, the Red Queen informed him. He glanced quickly at the ID number of whoever was trying to contact him, before he allowed the transmission to go through.

Albert? said the being that now appeared before him, He's arrived... With...someone else... How do you want me t-

"I don't," Wesker interrupted, suddenly getting an idea. It wouldn't have been as much fun, with just one of them, but with both... a cruel smirk worked its way onto his lips. As if reading his mind, and realizing what he meant, his partner mirrored the expression, "As of now, there has been a slight change of plan."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

So Chris finally makes an appearance albeit a short one... Don't look for much more on him... yet. And Wesker's up to no good... what else is new.

By the way: anyone who guesses what/who SB-023 aka "Stevie" is gets virtual cookies!... And anyone who knows what Claire's current appearance is based off of... More cookies! :p

... In reference to Claire: I dunno if what I got her new look from is her, or not... We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

And for the record... I DESPISE Toby... I absolutely hate him... I've got a few scenes with him already planned out, and he's too much of an ass for even me to like XD