The lyrics: Numb by Linkin Park.

I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface

Chris felt anxious. He felt.. sad leaving Jill, forcing her to return to base with Sanya to report the news. He felt anger at the memory of just losing such a good man that his comrade had been. Jack Botte was a perfect soldier.. a loyal friend.. and a welcome companion when the dark thoughts encroached on him. He'd offer him his advice, yet never crossed that line. Never dived beyond a professional presence that Chris sorely needed. Sanya, on the other hand, had been Jack's literal opposite. She was loud, sometimes annoying and yet.. gentle. She was the heart, the one who'd offer the hugs and comfort when he had lost Jill to Wesker back then. She had been like a sister.

Like Claire.

At that thought his mind swirled with sudden awareness, wondering where his sister was. Had Wesker been telling the truth? Was Claire dead? Was she alright? He clenched his fists, easily taking each step with such a rush that he reached the bottom in under half a minute, which was roughly several flights. He was ready to blow something apart.

He kicked open the door, light from outside streaming inside and secondly blinding him. He grunted as he began to jog down the street, searching for his most hated enemy. The bane of his existence. Albert Wesker.

I don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)

"Wesker! I will find you! And I will kill you!" If Jill was here and heard him she would have pushed against his shoulders, cursed at him for rushing head first into what he would likely never walk away from.. plead with him. She'd be angry that he wasn't being tactical, but Chris was never really one to fully, truly plan shit out. He just.. did what he felt was right. Went by instincts.

"Never thought I'd see the day when you were literally running down the streets, yelling his name, looking for a fight without Valentine." A cool emotionless voice called from to his left, drawing his heated attention to the source.

Leon S. Kennedy stood, leaning against a wall with his hands tucked into his pocket, completely ignoring the zombies staggering about.

"I thought Wesker died in the volcano?" He pushed away, walking toward the now frozen Chris.

Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)

"No.. the son of a bitch is still alive. Lord only knows how the fuck he managed to survive."

Leon shrugged, trying to be casual, but he could feel that Chris was only seconds from blowing a fuse. "What's got you all riled up beyond reasoning?"

"That fucker claimed Claire was dead, but she's somewhere in this city, I just know it. I have to find her before the military accidentally kill her." Chris stated, keeping a rather intense grip on his pistol.

Leon turned to glance toward where he knew the military would be deployed from, tensely rolling his shoulders in unease. "Need help looking?" He turned back to peer at Chris with an unusually sincere expression on that face of his.

Even though Chris had hated Leon for the longest time.. he had felt that he was like a brother. He had kept his sister safe.. he had protected Claire. That earned him some semblance of respect from the older sibling.

I've become so numb, I can't feel you there
Become so tired, so much more aware

Chris finally nodded, snapping out of his inner musings and tried to temper his emotional tide inside. "Yeah, that'd be appreciated. I'm sure Claire will be happy to see your mug here, even under the circumstance." He gave a distant smile to the government agent. "How come you're here anyway? No fancy mission in a foreign country?"

Leon shook his head, chuckling as the two began to walk down the street side-by-side. "I practically begged Hunnigan to clear me. She only did once she learned of Claire's mission and how dangerous it could be, even with you here. I told her I could handle myself, she didn't need to make it an actual assignment." He shrugged. "Any leads to her whereabouts?"

Chris peered over to him, studying the blank expression usually on Leon's clean shaven face. "No." He sighed deeply, a ripple of pain surfacing at the concern on the agent's face. "There's a lot of tyrants in the city, we don't know how they got here or who released them. Hell, from what I gathered.. even Wesker doesn't know."

Leon's eyes narrowed, his lips thinning into a line in consideration. "Think we have a new player on the field?"

By becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

"Dunno. I feel like whoever it is.. if we don't stop them soon more leaks are bound to happen." Leon nodded to this, understanding that a new enemy wasn't good news since that left a lot of room for error. A new enemy meant they had no knowledge, no idea.. and no way to combat the threat they posed.

The pair ended up in a big mall area, easily spanning across several blocks. Chris recognized the name from the map he had intently studied, but ignored it.

A loud roar seemed to suddenly fill the air and they both were forced to look up as dark shapes began to appear on the rooftop. At least three tyrants and what looked like a taller, darker version in the middle.

"Holy.. shit.." He heard Leon whisper beside him, his gun instantly in hand.

"I don't think we have enough firepower to take them down.." Chris hissed to him, glancing to the younger man. Leon spared him a look, worry flickering across his features.

"Humans!" The center monster, the ring leader, snarled out in a booming voice, a distorted ripple of sound.

Can't you see that you're smothering me,
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control?

"What the hell are we going to do?!" Leon demanded, taking a step closer to the B.S.A.A. operative.

"I don't-"

"FIRE!" They both turned to see several squadrons of soldiers aiming different weapons at the big threat above before the zip of rockets echoed and streams of smoke covered the air behind them. The ring of bullets peppering metal and flesh caused them to turn back to the tyrants, the beasts taking shot after shot.

"SOLDIERS..!" The ring tyrant monster gestured toward them, the trio around him jumping down and dashing toward the soldiers, completely ignoring Chris and Leon. They turned to watch the slaughter as a tyrant barreled through an entire team of gunmen.

The ground shook below and a shadow cast over them. They glanced up and back to see the bigger one directly behind them, glaring down at them with piercing white eyes. "OH SHIT!" Leon swore.

'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you.

"Redfield.." The creature seemed to know his name, causing a shiver to race up his spine. This was not good. "You no threat." He paused, seeming to study the human pair. "But master said squash." He lifted his hand, clenching it into a fist, bringing it down toward them. They split, rolling to the sides as he punched the ground, cracking the blacktop. He allowed his gaze to flicker between the two before focusing on Chris. "You first!"

He swiped at Chris, who roughly threw up his dagger to block- which he knew would have little defense against but it was more-so a reflexive move than actual thought. He was thrown back into a wall, slamming into the ground with a grunt.

"Hey, beautiful! Look at me!" Leon called, trying to gain the monster's attention to no avail. He filled it's back with lead, but it gained no purchase as it approached on Chris' limp frame. "Chris! Wake up!"

Suddenly bullets slapped repeatedly into the big tyrant thing before a rocket literally exploded against it's side. Leon covered his face as smoke went everywhere. The thing was thrown several feet, allowing Leon the chance to run to Chris.

(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
Every step I take is another mistake to you.

"Get up, sleeping beauty! You're gonna get killed if you don't become conscious again!" Leon snarled into his face as he helped to set him up, shaking him rather roughly to rouse him.

Chris moaned, blinking to awareness as he stared up into Leon's panicked expression. "Huh?"

"We're about to get killed, you crazy fool! Get up, HURRY! I have no intention of dying today!" He yanked on Chris' arm, hoisting him to his feet.

He tugged him along, taking a back alley into another street where zombies staggered around in hunger. A few forms appeared at the end of the street, jogging toward them. There were B.S.A.A. operatives by the looks of it. Chris felt relief flood him as they approached. They were soon a few feet away, staring pointedly at Chris.. before lifting their guns to aim at the pair.

"OH SHIT!" Leon yanked him again, pushing him into the open doorway of a house as bullets rained into the wall behind where they had stood seconds before. "They're trying to kill us!"

"But those are B.S.A.A. men and women! Why are they shooting at us?!"

"You've got traitors among your group." Leon growled, slamming the door shut behind them.

(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
And every second I waste is more than I can take.