Kevin rushed in pursuit of Claire trying not to get seen by any lurking soldiers alive or infected, Claire examined the bike for a moment "What are you doing girl? We have to go and I mean now!" the anger in his tone brought out his Texan accent "We need vehicles to get out of here, at least to the tram station!" Claire replied "Anything we can get our hands on..." she continued sounding slightly sarcastic "Can you get it started?" Kevin asked before Claire pulling her keys out of her left pocket showed him. Carlos and Leon took cover suddenly as a straggling soldier appeared and opened fire on them, the noise began to draw the undead, as Leon could see staggering shapes with the corner of his eye.

Carlos rose up for a second with his pistol drawn and shot back at the soldier, screaming as several bullets pierced his uniform before his lifeless body fell to the floor. "C'mon move!" the two survivors rose up leading the zombies to an empty plate, footsteps sounded cluttered as they rushed across the street but Carlos halted them for a split second "Where to, now?" Leon asked his tired associate "Trying to find the closest exit, so we can get to that tram-station...safely".

"Hurry up we don't have time for this!" Kevin urged as Claire sat on the bike pushing the kick-start "Come on...come on!" she thought "Roll it out, might give it a jump!" Kevin hinted That's clever I should have thought of that! Claire thought to herself, feeling stupid. The heel of her boot kicked the peg stand back up before scuttling to drag the bike out, Kevin helped to shove the hefty vehicle out onto the ramp. The engine growled as she rolled down the studded steel ramps "Get on!" Claire said turning her head to see Kevin jump out after her, looking back suddenly he heard an almighty roar "...The fuck was that?"

Meanwhile, the Agent casually patrolled the area seeking out any soldiers that may still be alive, an obscure bang and the sound of bricks crumbling; the agent paused slowly turning its head to look back as flames reflected through its shades. The super soldier observed the area well, like statue he challenged the fiery eye saw, and with a shockingly enormous eruption of brick and mortar, NEMESIS had returned.

The creature had mutated; its outfit now scorched and seared, and whose skin was red raw from relentless flames, resided on one knee for a few moments before rising. Smoke exuded from the NEMESIS hefty shoulders, its upper body now exposed consisted of putrid looking mutated flesh and bio-organic life tubes filled with strange discoloured fluids. The agent with an unflinching resolve, stared the creature down with no more than ten or eleven feet between them both, NEMESIS made no hesitation in flipping a vehicle on its back and forcing it toward his foe but, was quickly met with resistance as the agent took grip of the other side of the car and pushed back. Both soldiers of umbrella fought hard to gain dominance, like two petulant children fighting over one toy. The Nemesis showed his teeth roaring angrily at the Agent who held his ground, but was gradually forced back. The agent quickly took full grip of the puny automobile and hurled it aside, leaving only space and opportunity between the titans.

Nemesis threw a fist into an unsuspecting shoulder pushing the agent back, followed by a second swing knocking the agent sideways; quickly regaining balance the soldier grouped his fists together and proceeded to hammer nemesis into submission. The agent only slightly bigger in height used every ounce of might he could muster to defeat the nemesis who seemed to simply absorb almost every hit, suddenly the bloody great beast blocked a final double fisted attack and using its waffle-iron sized hands to lock the agent into submission before carrying him as it charged across the street through every car.

The agent tumbled out into an open road and slowly got up but was suddenly forced down again by a huge retracting tendril, the nemesis made a bellowing a roar waving its shoulder mounted tendrils around wildly, it seemed its mutation gave nemesis the greater advantage as the agent soon realized. Fluids spat out angrily from the tips of each tendril, the agent knelt with his head hanging between his shoulders taking a short breath realizing it was overpowered and losing vital energy from damaged systems.

The Nemesis showed no mercy , using its tendrils to subdue the agent by both arms pulling him from the floor, the agent forced to look at its foe, two hulking shadows stood on the wall, one holding up the other and in a final stance, the nemesis drew its right hand back and in an almighty fit of rage thrusting a huge tendril straight through the agents skull. Dropping his foes lifeless body, the nemesis threw his arms out and let out a bellowing roar, so loud it was almost piercing.

The hefty motorcycle rumbled down the exchange dodging hapless flesh eaters, Kevin was on rear and shot down any that were in the way "You see them?" He asked "No." Claire replied as she kept the bike at a medium pace to spot out anybody still among the living. The head light took lead as the bike revved up again and growled onward. "Mark!" Kevin cried out for his friend as the two of them rolled through a quieter street, the fires from a random frag grenade had died down Kevin had noticed as he climbed off to hunt for his old compadre. The distant cries of un-dead were heard for blocks, as the night's events had now caught their full attention and their appetite. "Mark..." Kevin called out for his friend, motioning to Claire to meet him on the other end, he hurried through a narrow path trying to avoid the stray zombie wandering between the cars.

A cold sweat fell over him as he befell upon a pack huddled together, a huge fire blazed from the wreckage just ahead of them, they were crouched over a large body "No" Kevin said overwhelmed with guilt and failure, his heart almost leaping from his chest as a hand grabbed his shoulder "I'm not dead, yet!" It was Mark, shotgun in hand teamed up with Kevin and soldiered onward

Claire slowed to a sluggish pace as she reached the end of one the barricades, a surviving soldier leaped out from the alley to her left, somewhat disorientated he struggled to aim and fired his machine gun toward the back end of her bike which. Claire flinched and ducked, the bullets had damaged the rear gears causing the bike to buckle almost being thrown off, she jumped and rolled onto the sidewalk just as the bike tumbled and slid across the street. "Son of a..." Claire exclaimed ejecting herself from cover behind a nearby wall, the soldier observed checking he'd paid his dues. A brief silence followed and Claire was about to make a run for it but gasped as several zombies slowly closed in on her "Shit". Claire thought now gridlocked before deciding to head the other way and greet the soldier head on, he paced toward her raising his machine gun about to fire but was suddenly halted as a huge shape dropped down between them. NEMESIS had found Claire curious as to her position; she almost stumbled trying to back away from the bloody great terror, about to fire his gun the soldier was quickly met with a bloody great wallop to the torso before being thrown across the street impacting with a stairway railing.

The beast continued his pursuit of Claire who was just about ready to piss in her jeans while, NEMESIS' eyes squinted momentarily as it observed her, evaluating her threat level "Stay away from me!" she barked in a state of panic but her request was received with a short sharp growl; there was a faint rumbling like the sound of an engine as it grew closer, NEMESIS about to strike was quickly met with unbelievable force as a greyhound roared and mowed him down. The bus drove for several yards before it came to a screeching halt just as the creature had met with a wall.

The door hissed as a familiar dark dressed figure climbed out back into the street, it was "Leon!" Claire gasped, relieved to see her compatriot. A Slight scrape but nothing fatal as he stepped out of the hulking carriage to greet her "You're ok!" She gasped "Can't say the same for that thing" Leon replied taking a brief glance back "Where are…"

"Here." A voice replied, Claire turning to see the others as they approached from the alley behind her, Carlos, Kevin and Mark approached slightly worse for wear and low on ammo. "We should get the hell out of here and get to the extraction point!" Kevin remarked, Leon and Carlos looked at one another for a moment. "What?" Kevin asked noticing the pairs glance, a sudden bang from the fuel gasket of one of the burning vehicles caught their attention "This way." Carlos commanded lightly running down the north end of the alley, boots scraped and bumped through glass, grit and rain puddles.

Leon took cover around the corner from where the fight last took place, he peered round for a second whilst Carlos covered the other corner "It's clear" Leon flinched overhearing a weak moan. Leon who rushed around the corner trying to figure out where the noise was coming from "You hear that?" he asked his partner who paused "Hear what?" Carlos replied "It's just more of those things" Leon grew anxious "Listen!" the two of them stood in wait to hear another faint moan, Leon glanced in the direction he thought the noise came from before hurrying across the road, seeing an injured soldier crawl away to safety, Carlos followed taking caution as he too stepped out into the street. "He's still alive, should we help?" Claire asked "I want answers." Carlos thought "Go, go." He whispered motioning Leon to investigate, following alongside

The wet drizzle created a faint smoky aura that dissipated into atmosphere, from vehicles and other activity that had previously run through that area, soon coming across what or who was moaning "Whoa!" Leon exclaimed as he observed the wounded soldier crawling away to a safer area but stopped after hearing a gun click "Turn around!" Leon ordered keeping his gun sight firmly locked on him. The soldier slowly turned over and hauled himself up between a medium stairwell, and a basement underpass grunting and gasping as he did, Carlos quickly caught up after checking the area "Wait" he said as Leon kept his gun sight on the injured umbrella lackey "Who are you? Are you with hammerhead or barracuda?" Carlos asked as he crouched down over the man, he lay silent for a moment trying to catch his breath before reaching for his helmet and pulling it off.

"Neither" he replied weakly as blood smudged the corners of his mouth still managing a small grin "Then which company?" Carlos asked with his gun aimed at the soldier

"Go ahead, I'll be dead soon either way, and so will all of you!"

"Who the hell are you?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter much at his point. I was… part of a special undercover team, sent to infiltrate Umbrella. We were assigned to this cities branch after reports they were carrying out more illegal experiments"

"Experiments, like that thing back there?" Kevin asked.

"Their newest toy…sent to hunt and kill S.T.A.R.S"

"And those people? Just What the hell, is going on here? Why are you trying to kill us?" Leon said angrily

The soldier chuckled from his belly "If i fired at anyone, i would have missed deliberately. Umbrella, cannot risk anyone getting out alive, any, witnesses. Or else their whole operation would be exposed." He moved his gaze on Leon for a moment and then Kevin

"Umbrella have their hands in a lot of pockets, in high up places. It's no surprise you two got caught up in this mess, you were stabbed in the back by your own department."

"Wait…Irons? Chief Irons?"

"Heh, who do you think ordered the police to pull their forces back into the city's main hub, where they'd be completely boxed in?"

"Holy shit" Kevin thought trying to wrap his head around everything "We were screwed from the get go!"

"So, what's your play in all this" Mark asked looking around at the mess that was once Raccoon City

"Someone who wants Umbrella to pay for what they've done" Leon looked puzzled though Carlos seemed less surprised "You should leave this rat to die, along with Umbrellas mess!" the soldier bitterly replied noticing Carlos "Who are you?" Carlos asked again "S.T.A.R.S" the soldier responded, though vague but that was all Umbrellas lackey needed to know.

"We and Umbrella are old friends, most of S.T.A.R.S were bought, their families threatened. There was no choice, but some of us fought to stay clean"

"You're with the covert branch HQ is talking about" Carlos said in realization.

"What?" Leon asked "Just something I heard the men talk about from time to time at the barracks, that, S.T.A.R.S were changing tactics and trying to infiltrate several major Umbrella facilities". Carlos stared down in disbelief at this new revelation, it turned out the chinese whispers amongst Umbrellas infantry were true. "What about Alpha team, what happened to them?" Claire had little information on S.T.A.R.S but the name of Chris' team, and now the perfect opportunity had arisen for a desperate young woman to learn about her brothers whereabouts. Months had gone by with no contact, not knowing whether he was alive or dead, she'd readied herself for the worst and if nothing else would gain some closure along with the deep black hole bored into the pit of her stomach. "Alpha bailed on Raccoon City, soon as the shit hit the fan. Not that they had any say in the matter...Irons had them publically disgraced, he would see to their demise." Claire listened intently having a million and one thoughts "What about Chris, Chris Redfield, Do you know that name?" Intrigued, he answered "Chris Redfield?" "He's my brother. Is he alive? Did he leave too? Tell me!" Claire's sharp interjection brought her anxiety level to critical, her heart rate spiked "Last i heard they were headed for Europe, to find Umbrellas central base of operations. If he's alive, that's where he'll be." A vague clue wasn't what she wanted to hear, still it was a flake of hope instead of having her worst nightmare come to light.

"What...was this?" Leon asked in confusion

"A staging area...they were certain that the NEMESIS would come, but this was bait for the offspring. It's cleverer than they thought"

"G-14" Carlos thought to himself

"Once again Umbrella got in way over their heads, and created something they can no longer control." The soldier could only chuckle at the situation "Yeah no shit, that thing was killing everyone." Leon thought

"I'm not talking about NEMESIS... the parasite it carries you see, it reproduced. Now it's off-spring is out there somewhere, they have no idea how to stop it nor how to capture and contain it" the soldier suddenly pulled out a large metallic case and popped it open to reveal a large hi-tech looking detonation device

"Come with us, you don't have to do this". Leon said trying to bargain with the S.T.A.R.S soldier, but his words fell on deaf ears as the soldier began to set up the device for detonation, a sudden bleep as a small screen of green numerals showed up in the centre screen of its body, that was designed in the shape of an inverted hourglass.

The soldier placed it down next to him and simply lay in wait, exhausted and slowly losing more blood, breathing through his nose he turned to face them again "What's your name?" Claire asked one final time "Ruscko..." giving Claire one final glance who returned with a sorrowful look before suddenly, he took her hand firmly "Find your brother, Redfield is a key player in this, but someone must survive. Go now, while you still have the option" She looked at him for a moment before nodding in comprehension, the group made haste in vacating the area.

Coming back onto the main road, they weaved in out and of a dozen parked vehicles hoping to move through undetected by the several stragglers wandering the roads "You sure you know how to get there?" Leon wondered as he looked around momentarily and hurried between two cars into the underpass that lead to the tram station "Yes" Carlos replied "C'mon guys" Claire thought looking back anxiously hoping they would come back, alive. "Wait…where's Kevin? Where the hell is Kevin?" Mark paused looking back but could see no sight of the stubborn officer "Shit, shit!"

"We don't have time, we need to get out of here!" Carlos urged

They hurried across the main street and came out into the central crossing trying to gather their bearings and find a way back to the underpass, vehicles were left abandoned all over the place it was a maze of cars, trucks and commercial vehicles. Un-dead moans grew closer as they sought out for the remaining survivors, the bomb counting down rang deep in their heads as time was running short "This way" Carlos said to Mark who nodded remembering a familiar path, they began sprinting down near the bus wreck and slowed to see the turn into the underpass a few yards ahead, suddenly there was loud creak like that of the sound of metal and steel twisting.

Mark and Carlos slowed sensing something was very wrong, Claire looked back in horror as the huge greyhound was slowly pushed forward and forced aside little by little "No, fucking, way!" she gasped as the thing was gradually re-animated "Move!" Carlos voice boomed just as the bloody great vehicle was shoved in their direction and gaining momentum, they dived aside like marines as the bus caught several vehicles halting prematurely and gradually turned up on itself before smashing back onto the road.

The NEMESIS growled as it regained sight of them all, pissed, slowly moved toward them, snarling and swinging its tendrils, suddenly switched to a sprint in pursuit of them quickly smashing brick and mortar trying to grab Leon who just managed to duck out of range of the creatures' grasp. Carlos taking the few split seconds he had, packed a final clip into his assault rifle "Get behind something!" He barked at Claire, opening fire on the raging monster, the loud but futile attack was cut short as the NEMESIS took the barrel of his gun crushing it before knocking it aside and quickly took the defected soldier by the neck, holding him up like he was nothing. "Eat this!" Leon said walking forward and put several shotgun shells into the creatures back in effort to divert its attention, but a flurry of tendrils suddenly smacked the unsuspecting officer into a truck with a bang.

Carlos placed his own hand around his neck struggling for air as the monster tightened its grip around his throat, his life flashing before his eyes as he stared up trying to deduct use of physical energy and conserving breathe. NEMESIS growled staring at its kill about to raise its other hand but paused overhearing a heavy thud. The beast slowly wound its neck around, its hideous disfigurements exposed in the fires glare, dropped Carlos leaving him to gasp for air and observed the area in front of it. Through the roars of fire, the sound of something angry was on fast approach.

Carlos gradually catching his breath scrambled over to a worse for wear Leon and helped him up "Come on its time to leave get up, let's go!" but his hopes were short lived as they were met with the sound of the un-dead whom drawn to their attention, were closing in from all directions. In a daze, the sound of roaring fires and faint moans were fused together as the two were trying to think of a way to stay alive while being surrounded by an army of un-dead. A large military vehicle rolled up onto the scene and came to a screeching halt, Kevin was in the driver's seat, seeing the fight, Claire and Mark were split from Leon and Carlos who were positioned behind another car on the opposite end of the street. Carlos firing as Nemesis cracked the pavement, the gun fire was merely to draw the monsters' attention.

Kevin scrambled to the rear of the heavily fortified vehicle, and clambered into the seat of the mounted gun. He strapped in and took hold of the weapon about to open fire but there followed a chattering click, Kevin confused examined the thing trying to figure out why it wouldn't fire, having few seconds to intervene he held the trigger again this time realizing it the bolt was locked.

"Run!" Kevin yelled as he held the trigger down to release a massive booming chatter of bullets, burst tires and crushed side doors before finally a barrage began to rip through the beast that flinched and staggered from the force of the gun fire. Tendrils waved and whipped angrily smashing vehicles as Claire jumped away stupefied, the weapons muzzle raged and popped mercilessly expending high calibre rounds.

Smoke hissed from the barrel end after spending its entire case, Kevin observed for any movement from the guns intended target. Silence befell the scene as the smoke cleared to reveal a lifeless hulking heap in the road.

The Monster lay silent, lifeless, it's body riddled with bullet holes and gaping lesions, it was dead, surely. "We got it" Kevin thought, spotting Claire and the others, his body almost completely numb from the machine guns' kickback.

"Get in!" Kevin screamed motioning for them to hurry into their means of escape.

Boots scraped asphalt and ungreased shock absorbers creaked as doors clicked opened and shut again, the engine growled screaming out through front grill. The detonator was now on seconds, there was no time to lose.

Wheels screeched and scrambled, angrily shifting gears, disappearing into the dark streets.

Bleep…bleep…bleep. The detonator counted down to single digit seconds

A familiar shape, slowly rolled onto its side, immobile, tissue began to reform, crunch, as bone and tissue re-joined not healed fully, but the worst injuries had quarterized themselves. A weiry grumble as the hulk got back up and stood amidst the destruction, distracted by the sudden bleeping. NEMESIS turned to see the detonator count down to 1. It growled again saliva oozed from its decrepit mouth, an explosion of unprecedented yield followed, vehicles became engulfed whilst bodies were pulled from the ground as fire turned them to ashes.

The jeep roared down the freeway out toward the back reaches of the city, a huge light of white and orange covered twelve blocks in a freak flash ball of fire, devolving gradually dimming to a dull burn. Time seemed to lose importance as their minds drifted, and they would soon reach the tram station.

The nightmare they had escaped was simply the beginning but was nothing compared to the horrors that awaited them.