Chapter 20 has arrived...Rebecca tries to give Cheryl solace as they get to know each other, and their hearts draw ever closer; at the same time, Bravo Team faces a horrific situation...and they lose one of their own...

In this chapter, finally, Rebecca tells Cheryl about the events she survived in the forever classic RESIDENT EVIL and its prequel, RESIDENT EVIL ZERO! You'll notice I took a couple of liberties, combining the stories of both Chris and Jill from Rebecca's point of view!

RESIDENT EVIL X SILENT HILL: JUDGMENT DAY

written by Charles Spencer,
inspired by Ygure

Chapter 20:

"THE BRIDGE"

-1-

The mouth of King's Bridge loomed ahead, like a dark gateway in the light snow...it almost looked like it was suspended in the fog, and only offered a path into more unknowable mist. Every member of Bravo Team considered the covered bridge for a moment as they stood together in a tight formation...until Douglas Cartland, one of their advisors, said, "Okay, am I the only one who thinks taking this bridge is a sucky idea?" For a moment, silence was the old P.I.'s only answer. He wasn't the only one to think that.

Vector looked at his team leader and said, "This would make a perfect bottleneck, sir. We wouldn't have much room to breathe if we get attacked."

Claire Redfield offered, "Monsters could be waiting to ambush us on the other side too, Leon."

Bravo's leader, Leon S. Kennedy, nodded as he looked at the bridge with a grim expression. "Yeah, but our only other option is we go down the bank and cross the water to get to the other side. Anybody like that idea better?" Again, uncomfortable silence. "I'll take that as a 'no'."

Rain commented, "We're gonna be open to attack either way...hell, we're vulnerable now."

Sienna Miller, the team sniper, finally snarled, "Fuck it, if we're gonna do this, let's just do it!" But she quickly added for Leon, "Sir!"

Helena Harper was close to Leon as she said, "I'm with Sienna, Leon. That, or we can stand here and talk about it for a while longer."

Leon almost laughed. "Right. Everybody, we'll need to hustle across the bridge. Vector, I want you side by side with Rain at Point."

The masked recon specialist nodded. "Yessir!"

But Rain didn't like that order and said, "Sir, I'll be okay in the lead by myself - !"

Leon said to the young commando, "We have no idea what's on the other side, Rain. I want someone close to you, just in case. Copy?"

Rain sighed, "Copy that!"

Leon nodded and finally ordered, "So let's go, people. Double-time it!"

-2-

After traveling a couple of blocks from where they fought a hideous collection of monsters in the mist, Cheryl and Rebecca's group had found another abandoned home to call a brief sanctuary, a two-story townhouse with massive yards front and back. A big family used to live here, from the looks of the many family photos on display. The survivors could only hope the previous occupants were relatively safe somewhere else. After ensuring every door to the house was secure, they settled in on the second floor to get some rest. Elza Walker needed it the most since she was so emotionally wrung out...she became visibly better and truly sorry for the things she said, still so full of anxious fear. In spite of the age and grime all over everything, Elza found a bed and was asleep in moments. Alex and Elle Shepherd retired to another bedroom adjoining with Elza's...the couple was also troubled deeply by their situation, mostly because they lived through this same horror in Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen before.

Alex and Elle relied on each other so much for solace and strength. Rebecca Chambers knew she couldn't have done much to help them, and she wished she could have. The pixie moved into the master bedroom, its windows overlooking the huge front yard...there wasn't much to see outside because of the eerie grey; combined with the snow, looking outside was like staring into a gloomy, foreboding dream that could turn into a nightmare at any moment. Rebecca took her suppressed MP5 machine gun with sling and set it to rest leaning on the wall next to the doorway...she then shrugged off her light backpack that contained her critical medical provisions and equipment, which of course included Green Herb, and set it on the floor just inside the doorway. She thought of the vial of Aglaophotis in the backpack too, which she stole from a conspirator to The Order, Doctor Burton Young.

The beautiful brunette, still clothed in her crimson top and long gloves, black leather pants and shoes, raised her arms and stretched her lithe frame vigorously...she still wore her gunbelt with her Beretta snug in its holster at her hip. Stretching didn't help the tension Rebecca felt, though...hell, she was as scared out of her mind as anyone could be. But she opened her eyes to see another person who was already in this master bedroom, and suddenly the troubles she felt didn't matter much. Her elvish face softened with warmth simply looking at the blonde girl, even though her back was to Rebecca as she stood next to one of the windows, staring out into the fog. Cheryl Mason's stance was tense as she wore her leather jacket, black sleeveless tee, jeans and boots, her Colt Peacemaker stuck firmly in the waistband of her jeans...her Remington shotgun rested on top of a dresser not far away. Rebecca knew the blonde had so much weight on her slender shoulders using her mystical power to shield them from the otherworldly perceptions of Reeve Meyers, The Order's leader. But that didn't worry Rebecca as much as what she could only imagine Cheryl felt since Elza called her a monster...the blonde was too quiet since, and not just because she needed to concentrate on shielding their group.

Rebecca approached the blonde and asked gently, "Cheryl, are you okay?"

Cheryl didn't turn around. She said neutrally, "I'm all right, Becca. Don't worry about me so much."

Rebecca's expression brightened as she folded her slender arms and said casually, "Hey, I'm worried about myself, too. It's not all about you, honey!" She simply wanted to lighten the mood. It was an epic fail. Cheryl didn't seem to react in any way. The pixie stopped next to the foot of the room's king-sized bed and her expression faltered as she looked down and tried, "I..." She frowned as she closed her eyes. Rebecca needed to see Cheryl's lovely, freckled face as she almost whispered, "You know you can talk to me. About anything."

"I know." Rebecca looked up and saw Cheryl had turned to gaze at her. "There's nothing to talk about." The blonde's expression was too serious...her depressed eyes hinted at the emotions she kept bottled inside.

Rebecca needed so much to console Cheryl, to lift her spirits. "Cheryl, you are not a monster."

"Yes, I am - "

Rebecca emphatically said, "No!" She took a couple of steps toward the blonde, her blue eyes wide as she urged, "Please don't say that! It hurts to hear you say that, honey." The brunette's expression became unsure...she tried to think of some way to help the one she adored. "I can't imagine how much pain you must feel, in spite of all I know because of you. The memories you gave to me..."

Rebecca was shocked when suddenly, Cheryl's face tightened with anger as she said bluntly, "Rebecca, get one thing straight right now: I didn't 'give' you a damn thing. Your getting my memories was a careless, stupid accident, remember?" Yesterday afternoon, when Order Soldiers shot her with a tranquilizer dart, Cheryl wanted so dearly to help Rebecca understand her. In her last moment of consciousness, the blonde transmitted an encapsulation of her memories from her birth as Alessa Gillespie to her reincarnation and escape from Silent Hill. Cheryl stepped up to Rebecca, but stopped short...there was still a short distance between them as she said thickly, "All I wanted was for you to not have any doubts about me...I just wanted you to understand me. I didn't want you to know everything about me."

Rebecca hadn't realized that Cheryl felt such a way...but the sweet girl quickly realized that Cheryl had every right to be angry after having had every memory of her two previous lifetimes exposed to the light for another to see. Rebecca could only look at her and said haltingly, "I-I'm sorry."

But immediately, seeing the sadness in the brunette's expressive eyes, Cheryl's expression softened as she took a step closer to Rebecca. She reassured, "No, I'm sorry, Becca. I'm not angry with you. I promise." Rebecca knew without a doubt Cheryl meant it, and she relaxed as she felt a wave of relief. But the moody blonde stepped past Rebecca and sat on the foot of the huge bed. Cheryl looked down as she sat casually and finally said, "I-I've always had a hard time dealing with people in this life. You mentioned that you met the police officer who helped my father save me..."

Rebecca looked upon Cheryl and gently nodded. "Cybil Bennett, yeah."

"Ever since, I saw her face to face maybe a handful of times as I grew up. After my dad died, we pretty much only talked to each other over the phone. And I didn't mind that." She smiled a little, but there was no humor at all in it. "I know it must sound so strange. You know as well as I do how important Cybil is to me. She helped my father save my soul. She was part of my being reborn, but...I kept my distance from her." Cheryl was quiet for a moment...patient, gentle, Rebecca moved and sat on the bed next to Cheryl. The blonde quietly said, "It...it's so hard to open yourself up to anyone when you know you're so different from everyone else. Besides, there was safety in building a wall around myself."

Rebecca looked at her curiously. "Safety?"

"Only my father really knew me. I never opened myself up to anyone else. I was afraid to." Cheryl tensed as she sat next to Rebecca, and sighed...she quickly said, "But in one moment, everything changed. I wanted you to understand me and what I'd been through. And I got my wish, but..."

Rebecca finished sweetly, "You feel vulnerable." The blonde nodded quietly. One of Rebecca's gloved hands reached out and softly rested on Cheryl's lap, just above her knee. The brunette felt the girl's warmth through the denim of her jeans. "Cheryl...you don't have to feel that way. You'll always be safe with me. I swear."

Cheryl relaxed only a little...she looked at Rebecca with a guarded, haunted expression and said carefully, "I'm not the one I'm worried about, Becca." Before Rebecca could ask what she meant, Cheryl said nervously, "I-I also feel really, really awkward."

Rebecca was lost in Cheryl's hazel eyes... "Why...?"

Cheryl felt so good because of Rebecca's touch... "Because you know most everything about me, and...I'm still learning about you."

The pixie suddenly smiled and said, "Well, there's an easy way to fix that!" Cheryl looked at her. "My mind's an open book for you, honey. Really! Just look into me so you know everything about me, too."

Cheryl's expression softened as one of her hands moved and rested upon Rebecca's. "You don't have to do that. Keep telling me about yourself, Becca. That's good enough for me."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. In fact...I asked before how you and your friends in S.T.A.R.S. first ran into the Umbrella Corporation's zombies. You never got to tell me then, but maybe now...?"

Rebecca Chambers smiled and nodded eagerly. "Of course! But I wish it was as simple as just zombies, honey. A lot happened in Raccoon Forest." And Rebecca began to recount the terrifying events that changed her life fifteen years ago...

The night of July the 23rd, 1998. Rebecca, still a raw rookie of a medic, was deployed with S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team by helicopter into the massive forest around Raccoon City...their mission was to investigate the escalating, fatal attacks upon campers and hikers; victims were being eaten by both animals and human assailants. Because of what Bravo didn't realize at the time to be sabotage, their helicopter suffered a catastrophic failure and barely accomplished a crash landing. Stranded and unable to establish contact with base, the team began a search of the area and found a military transport with the MPs dead and their documented prisoner, Billy Coen, missing. Then Rebecca got separated from the rest of Bravo, but bravely continued to investigate alone. She finally found the Ecliptic Express, a train owned by Umbrella, stopped on the tracks of a line that ran through Raccoon Forest. Everyone in the train was dead, or better to say worse than dead because they became the first zombies Rebecca ever encountered. She held her own at first, but soon found herself in a reluctant partnership with Billy Coen...the escapee might have been infuriatingly cocky, but he also had the skill to help them both survive as they faced more zombies, killer leeches and a host of other horrors. One of her teammates, Edward Dewey, wasn't as fortunate...the rookie had to put down her friend after he became a zombie, too.

Rebecca and Billy were taken on a wild ride before the train crashed into the station of the Umbrella Research Center, a hidden mansion and adjoining complex of genetics research labs. There they began to learn about the origins of the zombifying leeches. Rebecca also discovered the truth about Billy, at least according to him: during a search and destroy mission for a terrorist stronghold, his commanding officer ordered the massacre of every innocent in an African village and framed Billy for the atrocity. The Bravo Team medic had no reason to believe Billy, and yet...the man didn't just stay with her, he constantly put his own life on the line to help her through the horror when he could have left her anytime for his own sake. By morning's light on the 24th, they unlocked the secrets of the Research Center and its hideous experiments on both animals and humans to create the infamous T-Virus. Rebecca and Billy also confronted Doctor James Marcus, a co-founder of Umbrella and the center's former director. He had been betrayed by his colleagues, but instead of dying he was transformed into a monstrous breeder of the virus-carrying leeches. After they destroyed Marcus and barely escaped the Research Center's self-destruction, Rebecca let Billy go to make his bid for freedom; he simply walked away into the surrounding forest and she never saw him again.

Cheryl's full lips formed a sly smile... "Sounds like you were kind of sweet on this guy Billy..."

Rebecca's expression was aghast. "WHAT?! Oh, please don't say that! Billy was full of himself and hit on me way too often...I had no interest in him! At all!"

"Okay, okay! So, was that the end of it?"

The pixie's mood darkened a little. She said softly, "No...that was just the beginning. Seriously." Later that morning, exhausted, Rebecca Chambers found shelter in a second mansion deep in the forest: the Spencer Mansion, which belonged to the family of Umbrella's owner, Ozwell E. Spencer. The estate was full of dark secrets, including a massive underground complex of laboratories and testing facilities for the research and manufacture of viruses and bio-organic weapons. Rebecca found a servant's bedroom in the seemingly deserted mansion and fell asleep in its bed, unaware that everything had already gone to hell there: the subterranean labs had been compromised by the uncontrolled spread of the T-Virus, which resulted in zombifying its personnel and everyone in the mansion; the monstrous creatures born in the labs escaped and had free reign, too. The pixie was woken up by another friend from Bravo, Richard Aiken, who chanced upon her...they split up to search for their surviving teammates including their leader, Enrico Marini. But as the day grew late and darkness fell, the zombies and monsters created by Umbrella became active and started to hunt for living prey again. Aiken met a grisly fate as Rebecca managed to evade hideous enemies by quiet stealth...she finally holed up in a storage room and really began to examine botanical research she found on local herbs.

Cheryl asked, "What kind of monsters were in that mansion? Not any more zombie monkeys?"

Rebecca answered, "No, but there were worse things. Crows, giant spiders, and dogs, all changed and made into monsters by the T-Virus, along with the regular human zombies. Oh, and the Hunters." The blonde looked a question at her. "Big frog-like things with huge claws. You know, Umbrella even infected a shark and turned it into a monster." The Neptune.

Cheryl repeated flatly, "A shark." She stared at the brunette. "What the hell were those assholes thinking?"

"All Umbrella cared about was their own greed, honey. They made the T-Virus and those monsters to...to see what they could make money from."

The blonde nodded. "But nothing else as bad as the zombie monkeys you fought with Billy." Rebecca frowned and looked at her. "What?"

"Do you have a problem with zombie monkeys or something? They weren't the scariest thing I ran into...!"

"I'm not so sure." Cheryl's expression was completely deadpan. "I mean, what's worse? Getting bit by a zombified whatever and getting infected, or having a zombie monkey fling its poop in your face, it gets up your nose, and you turn into a zombie THAT way?"

Silence for a moment...as Rebecca suddenly began to tremble and she bit her lower lip; she was fighting to contain herself, and the adorable girl was losing as she managed, "Oh, god...honey, you did not just go there...!"

Cheryl Mason finally smiled and asked, "Where? Zombie poop?"

"Sknkk!" Rebecca Chambers facepalmed as she stifled the initial burst into an awkward snort, but then she lost the struggle completely. And the air was filled with a gale of light, wondrous laughter from the brunette as she threw her head back. She finally fell back on the bed and managed to lower herself to giggles as she looked up at the ceiling, her arms crossed under her bosom. Her smile was broad and achingly beautiful as she said with amazement, "Oh, lord! Oh, I can't believe I can laugh at a time like this..."

Cheryl laid on her side next to Rebecca to gaze at her...she was smiling as well as she felt simple yet elemental happiness simply being with her adored. Only a foot of space separated them. Cheryl said lightly, "The last time I heard you laugh was at the fair, Becca. I just wanted to hear it again." Yesterday afternoon, in the sunshine before darkness fell. After the moody blonde was made to smile and truly laugh, and she heard Rebecca's sweet laughter too as they held each other tight.

"Thank you, honey..." Rebecca gazed at Cheryl as they laid next to each other. The pixie offered her hand, and the blonde quickly took it in one of hers.

Cheryl almost whispered, "No...thank you." They gazed into one other's eyes for a long, quiet moment. But...Cheryl managed to ask the Medical Specialist, "How long were you stuck in that mansion? Didn't anyone come looking for you?"

Rebecca was patient for Cheryl as she answered, "Funny you should ask, I was about to get to that!" Later that second night, the medic was finally discovered by Chris Redfield...Alpha Team hadn't heard from Bravo for too long and set out into the forest to find their friends, but they had their horrible share of misfortune, too. Brad 'Chickenheart' Vickers, Alpha's pilot, flew off in their helicopter and left his team behind as they were attacked by monsters. The surviving members of Alpha Team found the mansion too, and split up to explore it.

Rebecca and Chris uncovered even more secrets about Umbrella's criminal experiments as they fought the zombies and nightmare creatures that resulted from them. They went their separate ways often as they investigated, which meant the girl had to continue to rely on herself...the rookie still showed how resourceful she was when she saved Chris from the massive Plant 42. Rebecca also had to come to terms with the tragic reality that she was the only survivor of Bravo Team. That made the pixie completely resolute in her need to help Chris, Barry Burton and her dear friend Jill Valentine survive. But Albert Wesker was there commanding Alpha Team too, and he was secretly attempting to cement the demise of what was left of S.T.A.R.S. as he stole Umbrella research data for his own profit. Rebecca and Chris were exploring the subterranean labs under the mansion when things got even worse. Rebecca remembered, "We ran into Albert Wesker down there, and the monster showed his true colors by shooting me and putting Chris in a containment cell."

Horrified, Cheryl stammered, "W-wait, the bastard shot you?!"

Rebecca's lips turned into a thin frown. "The bullet would've torn right through my heart and killed me if it wasn't for my bulletproof vest. I still got knocked out, though. Wesker just wrote me off as dead and left me lying on the floor as he took Chris away. I almost wanted to die after I woke up, my ribs were so bruised! But then I found Jill and Barry right after they thought Wesker got killed. God, if only that bastard had died...anyway, they helped me get Chris out of his cell. I activated the complex's self-destruct system so it would destroy everything, not just the monsters but the T-Virus they kept there. We couldn't let anyone else get infected and maybe spread the virus further. We had to fight our way out, and finally we ran into this thing called the Tyrant on the roof. Jill blew the monster up with a rocket launcher, and Brad flew in and got us away from the mansion just before it exploded." Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and finished, "That's it...that's how it all went down."

Cheryl was amazed by what the pixie went through. "For a rookie, you earned a lot of experience in a couple of nights!"

Rebecca Chambers sighed, "Too much experience! So much happened that night, honey." She stared at the ceiling uncomfortably. "I saw so much death...I saw creatures that still give me bad dreams some nights...our teams were betrayed by the man who commanded us...!"

Cheryl Mason looked at the girl she adored so deeply... "But you still have such an innocent heart, Becca. You only want to see the good in people and everything around you."

The pixie turned on her side, and her sky blue eyes gazed into Cheryl's hazel...she nodded and said with quiet power, "I went through a lot, but I didn't want it all to change me. I couldn't. I mean, what else could I do? Lose faith that there were more people in the world like Chris and Jill than there were monsters like Wesker? Stop seeing the brightness in the world and only the darkness? I'm realistic, though, don't get me wrong. I know this world would be a better place if it wasn't for people and how careless and selfish we can be." Rebecca's lovely face became serious... "But I also want to believe things can get better. I won't stop having faith in people and that the world is an amazing, wonderful place. I can't give up hope we'll honestly get past all of our differences and be able to live together and really be happy one day."

Cheryl's smile was full of pure adoration. "I'll tell you what's amazing and wonderful, Becca...and that's you."

Rebecca smiled back...she felt a burst of confidence as she told the blonde, "Chris and Jill have been through so much too, and that's why I know they'll come find us!"

Cheryl's face became troubled as she rose to sat up on the bed, supported by one arm as her free hand continued to hold Rebecca's. She finally said, "I hope you're right, Becca...because they're here. I sensed your friends arrive in Black Falls."

"What - ?!" Stunned, Rebecca quickly sat up. She clutched Cheryl's hand needfully and asked, "When did they get here?!"

"Just before the fight we just had with those monsters." Cheryl kept her extranormal perceptions open for hours, which wasn't hard, waiting for anyone thinking of Rebecca to enter the fog. "There are others with Jill and Chris thinking of you...Barry, Harley, George, Sienna, Christine - "

Rebecca immediately lifted her free gloved hand to her mouth as her eyes widened...she breathed, "Christine...!" The Medical Specialist was almost as close to Christine Yamata as she was to Jill Valentine.

Cheryl's brow knitted with worry as she added, "Cybil and Douglas are with them. They came to help us, too." The last thing Cheryl wanted was for anyone else she cared about to enter this hellish situation, too. "There are many others with them. They entered in two teams, from the north and the south."

The Medical Specialist tentatively lowered her hand from her mouth... "Do you know how they're doing...?"

Cheryl nodded. "I'm already extending my sight outward to their locations to see them in my mind. It's similar to the power Reeve is using looking for us." It was a literal, mystical second sight not to be confused with what ESP researchers called 'remote viewing'. Cheryl could see the teams through a window in her mind as she saw through her eyes and her natural sight. It wasn't comfortable to split her attention between the two on top of concentrating on keeping herself, Rebecca and their group shielded. Her expression became more downcast as she told the pixie, "Most of them are okay, but...one of the teams lost a man already."

Fear clutched Rebecca's heart like a vise. She moaned, "Oh, god...!"

Cheryl said quickly, "Jill and Chris and everyone you know are all right, Becca." She squeezed Rebecca's hand gently as she repeated, "They're all right!"

Rebecca visibly relaxed, but only a little, as her trembling hand squeezed Cheryl's back needfully. "Cheryl, you said you could reach out to them when they got here...use your power to send some kind of message!"

Quietly, the blonde said, "That's not a good idea now."

"What're you talking about? We need to hook up with them! Together, we can stop The Order and end this horror!"

Cheryl shook her head. "Becca, it's taking a lot of my concentration just shielding us from Reeve...dividing my focus to see how our friends are doing at the same time only makes things more difficult. It doesn't help they're far away from us and in separate locations. If I want to do anything more, if I want to reach out and communicate with them, I'd have to drop our shield. I'd betray where we are and Reeve would send his monsters after us."

Rebecca's face became firm with bravery. "I'm ready to take that chance if it means we can help our friends find us - !"

But Cheryl said, "No, it wouldn't help at all. I know they're facing horrible risk in the fog, but if Reeve sensed me reaching out to our friends, they'd be in even more danger. Think about it...that asshole would send as many monsters as he'd need to in order to kill them all." Rebecca didn't need to think about it - fetching his monsters after the infiltration teams with even greater zeal was definitely something Reeve Meyers would do. Cheryl added, "We need to think about Alex, Elle and Elza, too."

"I know," Rebecca said, but reluctantly. If they wanted to protect Alex and Elle Shepherd - the latter of whom was pregnant - and Elza Walker, they couldn't betray where they were to the leader of The Order at anytime. It would only compound their predicament in ways that weren't acceptable. But Rebecca's eyes were desperate as she thought furiously and asked, "You can't somehow shield the teams from Reeve, too...?"

Cheryl pursed her full lips as she looked down in quiet shame. She said quietly, "I can't shield us and the others at the same time, either. You have to understand, I...I can only do so much."

That was when Cheryl Mason began to tell Rebecca Chambers things the girl didn't know about her. As she said to Alex Shepherd earlier, Cheryl kept her powers unused and dormant within her for years since her father died. She was haunted by her memories of Silent Hill and held herself responsible for the town's fall. Cheryl decided if she kept her powers buried, never even thought of using them for any reason, then she'd never hurt anyone else. When she realized remnants of The Order were still out there and swore to hunt them down, Cheryl gathered her courage and decided to learn how to utilize her powers to help her fight the cult.

Cheryl's powers were a thing she herself was still grasping to understand...no matter how fantastic it sounded, the one best descriptor for what she could do was magic, an ability above and beyond the natural order of things to manipulate and alter anything and everything around the girl by her pure force of will. The magic had always been a part of her since she was a child named Alessa Gillespie in a previous, tragically shortened life. She never knew how or why she gained her powers. She never took the time to learn why from people and resources with 'occult' knowledge, either. She only knew she could make most anything possible, and a terrible testament to that was Silent Hill itself. But in her father's memory, Cheryl managed to set aside her fear and began to explore her powers and find out exactly what she was capable of.

Cheryl told Rebecca that at first, she experimented with the power of thought she held - which only resembled what was called telepathy - and that alone justified her fears of herself. It was as easy as breathing to look into another person and 'hear' their thoughts or to listen to everything they heard and said...so was her ability to control another, to literally take hold of them on the psychic level and make them do or even say anything she wanted. The biggest problem she had at first was focus - she had to give herself a 'tunnel vision' of sorts, otherwise she would have looked into or opened herself to more than one mind...with enough practice she trained herself to accomplish that. The times she controlled another person was in every circumstance simple, innocent and always in her feelings justified. An example: one day, when she was working as a waitress in a diner (one of the many odd jobs she had taken to sustain herself since her father died), a surly drunk man came in and immediately started to cause trouble. But Cheryl wasn't in the mood. As everyone else in the diner focused on the drunk - the girl found out in her earliest experimentations that when using any of her powers in a significant way, her eyes glowed a bright supernatural blue - Cheryl used her power to make him fall silent, turn and walk back out the door, and when he was outside she made him drop into a heap, asleep. Cheryl needed only to concentrate to make such things happen, and at first that concentration could be broken by even the smallest distraction...that changed over time. Those experimentations also led to her developing her amazing second sight.

Concentration was absolutely essential as Cheryl gradually moved on to try her other powers that had a literal physical impact on everything around her...to change and manipulate, and had nothing whatsoever to do with what science called telekinesis. Within a few months, the freckle-faced girl graduated from being able to levitate and throw objects as small as tin cans and baseballs to things as big as a wrecked Jeep Cherokee she found and lifted from a ravine. Reaching out and taking hold of something was as simple as flexing a physical muscle, and took as much effort. She found she could do much more...the girl could use her magic to reach out and take virtually any physical action she wanted to crush, slash, twist, smash and rend asunder most anything she focused on.

She discovered she also had a primal affinity for manipulating the natural elements...fire, wind, water, and electricity were as easy to bend to her will as looking into another's mind. Cheryl could even spontaneously generate an element with enough concentration, and at first the effort left her exhausted immediately afterward...she could generate fire, an electric charge, or a surge of wind from her skin or use those elements to burn, fry, or knock down objects at a distance...that ability got easier and took less and less of her strength with time and practice, too. One time she focused her pyrotic will on a tire left in a back lot, and it scared the hell out of her when she burned it with such an intense heat it melted into a puddle of liquid rubber.

One fall afternoon last year. In a remote pasture far from anyone else, Cheryl looked up into the gray clouds above and reached into herself. Her eyes glowed bright as she felt the air charge around her...and then she lifted her right arm up, reaching, and in the next instant she made a spectacular bolt of lighting lance upward from her hand into the overcast sky, a bolt as brilliant and powerful as a strike that could have come from the clouds themselves. The girl was completely stunned...she had simply wanted to cut loose, to really let go and see what she could do with an element like lightning, but this was beyond her imagining. Her beautiful face was slack in expression as she looked into the heavens. She felt the opposing urges to laugh from the sheer wonder of this moment...and cry because she knew how completely different she was from everyone else, because she was a monster. And so she laughed long and loud...until, so tremendously and completely alone, she broke down and cried, her despair screaming from the core of her soul as she fell to her knees. Her body shuddered as she wept, and she stayed where she was in the green pasture as the heavens seemed to answer her tears and it rained.

It was at that point that Cheryl Mason truly understood how incredibly dangerous her supernatural powers were when she exercised conscious will in using them. That, combined with her knowledge that the gateway her powers opened to other places of fog and darkness in Silent Hill as little Alessa Gillespie was done unconsciously at a moment of terrible pain and fear, made her decide to restrain herself. Cheryl continued to practice using her magic in secret whenever she could, but no more experiments to see how powerful she really was.

Unfortunately, as she hunted for what remained of The Order, she never anticipated that their leader was just like her...Reeve Meyers, the leader of the Sect of Valtiel of the Church of the Holy Way, held magical powers. Unlike Cheryl, he had decades to master his powers...he knew his own strengths and weaknesses perfectly. He only got stronger learning the black, malefic arts of The Order, knowledge held only by the high priests and priestesses, as he investigated his cult's history...and he easily became attuned to things unspeakable during his time in the fog of Silent Hill. Worse, as a cold-blooded sociopath who began murdering in his teens, he had no desire to restrain himself in the practice of his powers. Oh, Reeve was cunning and kept his abilities secret to all but his followers, but he never feared what he could do...indeed, he reveled in his dark, dark talents. How else could he have overwhelmed Cheryl as she was drugged and forced her to bring the fog to Black Falls in the first place?

In essence, it didn't matter if she was incalculably more powerful than her enemy: Cheryl Mason lacked the critical experience Reeve Meyers had...because of the insecurities and fears she held of herself and the magic within her.

And for now, it was costing her. "I know it must sound so stupid," Cheryl said as she hated the fact that she was failing Rebecca and people who cared for them both. "But it takes more focus than you know to use two of my powers at once. I took a major risk before using my power to destroy those monsters that threatened you as I kept us all shielded from Reeve...the effort almost drained me." She finally looked away from Rebecca lamely. "I-I'm sorry...!"

Rebecca quickly soothed, "It's okay, honey. You just need more practice, and that's not stupid at all. I'm can't blame you for not expecting to fight an animal like Reeve, either." Ever since it really sank in for Rebecca Chambers that Cheryl Mason used magic, the pixie couldn't help but think of the moody blonde as a witch, and not in any way that could have been negative. Rebecca recalled every fanciful fictional spellcaster she had ever seen on television or the silver screen, from Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha Stephens and the animated Sabrina Spellman (with the Groovie Goolies) to the more recent Halliwell Sisters of Charmed, Hermione Granger and her classmates at Hogwarts, Harry and Ron. The sweet girl preferred to focus on those positive archetypes of the witch and completely shelved in her memory banks the many, many villains like Snow White's Evil Queen or the Wicked Witch of the West and the toon Witch Hazel flying around on their brooms.

One thing Rebecca learned from all of those make-believe witches she saw over the course of her life - something Cheryl understood too well - was that 'magic' was rarely ever interchangeable with 'simple'. The pixie reassured, "I'm sure we'll get the chance to reach them sooner or later...heck, we can make our way through the fog to get to them - !" The girl fell silent as the blonde she held hands with suddenly looked distracted. More than that, Cheryl's heavy eyes expressed sudden fear as they stared into space. Rebecca Chambers asked, "I-is something wrong, honey...?"

Cheryl Mason said haltingly, "I can see the team coming from the south...they're crossing the bridge...but something's coming for them...!"

-3-

King's Bridge was as much a local landmark as Black Falls' namesake waterfall. A 'Long truss' covered bridge constructed for foot traffic in the late 1800's, it was over 65 meters long and six meters wide, and spanned the breadth of Clearwater Stream. Its hardwood beams and trusses were weathered yet sturdy...King's Bridge was built to endure anything the elements threw at it, and it had for almost 125 years. Bravo Team began crossing King's Bridge at a jog to get to Black Falls, their flashlights on to see into the shadowed interior of the bridge...there was even a substantial layer of fog covering the deck, making it damp as the ground outside. The operatives had only gotten a third of the way when their leader, Leon S. Kennedy, suddenly ordered, "Everybody stop! Stop!" Helena Harper and the rest obeyed and looked to him. Leon felt something through his shoes, coming from the deck of the bridge itself...a rumbling that instinctively made him halt. From the growing confusion that suddenly appeared on the expressions of everyone in Bravo, they felt it, too.

Rain asked, "The hell is that?"

Claire Redfield said, "Feels like a tremor..."

Close by her side, Sherry Birkin became tense... "Whatever it is, it's getting stronger!" She was right. What was once a rumbling had perceptibly built in intensity as the moments passed, and it was only getting worse. The old wooden supports of the bridge around them began to rumble and groan.

"No..." Alarm grew on Helena Harper's beautiful face as she looked around. "...it's getting closer!"

Instinctively, Leon knew Helena was right. This definitely wasn't natural, and whatever was causing it was approaching their position. He long ago learned to obey his survival instincts, and they screamed at him at that moment to move fast. Leon yelled to his team, "Everybody RUN! RUN!" As one, Bravo Team ran. They ran to escape the quaking bridge and whatever was coming.

Some members of the team were faster than others: Rain, Claire, Sherry, Vector and Lawrence Kimbala took the lead. The group was halfway across when Douglas Cartland stumbled and fell. Just like that, he was prone on the deck of the bridge. Douglas hated himself for being old and as he struggled to stand he grunted, "Shit!"

Anne Cunningham looked back and saw the old P.I. had fallen and she stopped quickly...Anne cried, "Douglas!" She ran back to help him.

Leon heard Anne, braked and followed her to help, too. In a moment he was with Anne, helping Douglas stand. Leon tried to motivate him, "C'mon, Douglas! You can keep up!"

Douglas' face was full of shame as he groaned, "I'm sorry - !"

As Leon held the P.I.'s left arm, Anne supported Douglas by clutching his right. Her green eyes were bright with concern for him as she urged, "We've got you, Douglas, but you need to run!"

Nearly half of Bravo was safely (but relatively so) on solid earth on the north side: Rain, Claire and Sherry, Lawrence, and Vector stood in a cluster...ten meters behind on the bridge, Helena stopped and looked back. Alarmed, she saw Leon was held up with Douglas and Anne. Helena breathed, "Leon - !" Some others with her - Harley, Karena, and Sienna - also paused. But Helena looked at them and ordered, "Don't just stand here, get off the bridge!"

Karena LesProux reached out to touch Helena's arm and advised, "Helena, you can't stay here, either!" Then the bridge was literally shuddering. Beams and braces along the length of the bridge were cracking far too loudly from the increasing stress. The deck itself was cracking open sporadically.

Leon looked ahead and saw the woman he held dearly in his heart had stopped. He shouted, "Get across, Helena!"

But Leon was just as important to Helena...she yelled back, "Not without you!"

On solid ground on the north side. Claire said anxiously, "They're taking too long, they have to get out of there - !" She knew it wouldn't have helped to rush back onto the bridge to try and help, either...

As Leon helped Douglas hustle on one side, Anne clutched his arm on the other. They were about five meters from Helena's position, fifteen meters away from getting off the bridge. Anne managed, "We're okay! We're almost there!" But one of the girl's feet stepped into a crack in the deck and caught her ankle. She screamed as she fell.

Both men stopped...Douglas wanted to help her, but Leon gave the old man a hard shove to the north and ordered, "Just GO!" He reached Anne in a second, fell to one knee and began to help her. He said, "Hold still!"

Harley was close by Helena as he offered, "I'll help 'em - !"

Helena Harper quickly ordered, "No, I'LL go! Get Douglas off the bridge!"

Helena rushed past Douglas...he turned to watch her go back, but a big yet gentle paw of a hand took hold of one of his arms. Harley grunted, "I've gotcha, old timer! C'mon!"

Douglas Cartland found himself pulled easily by the burly medic. "What about Anne?!"

"She'll be comin', don't sweat it!"

"Please hurry, please hurry, please...!" Anne was almost frantic as she desperately tried to pull her foot from the crack.

Leon said firmly, "Just hold still!" He needed her to work with him as his hands wrapped around her leg...

The quaking was intensifying even further...Sienna Miller stood close by Karena as they waited for Leon, Helena and Anne. Sienna said anxiously, "Shit, this bridge's gonna shake apart - !"

Harley and Douglas exited the bridge and treaded on shaking ground uneasily. Douglas lamented, "Had no damned business coming here! I'm no use to anybody..."

Harley looked down at Douglas and put a big, reassuring hand on his shoulder. He reassured, "Hey, there are days I feel old, too! Just stay strong, and it won't matter what your age is!"

Leon managed to get Anne's foot out of the crack. "Okay, you're free!" The lovely prison guard was helped to stand, and she had the urge to kiss Leon.

Helena Harper was there with them as it seemed the world was shaking around them...she said desperately, "Leon, we need to get out of here!"

On the north bank. Douglas quickly switched on his portable radio. What came out was a violent, oppressive wave of white noise. He'd never even heard anything this intense thirteen years ago! It made his mouth go dry as he said, "Jesus...!"

Everyone else standing there heard the static, too. Harley cursed and shouted to his leader, "LEON, THIS GUY'S RADIO IS GOING CRAZY!" Without thinking, Harley Morris ran back onto the bridge...he simply wanted to help his teammates, get them out of there.

Galvanized by Harley's shout, Leon urged, "Go!-Go!-GO!" He, Helena and Anne bolted into a run to the north.

Douglas whirled around to the others standing with him and yelled, "Guys, I'm getting some strong damn static here! WE NEED TO GET READY!"

But half of Bravo was still on King's Bridge. Rain screamed, "GUYS, GET OFF THAT FUCKIN' BRIDGE NOW!"

Panic rising fast in her heart for her dear friend, Claire Redfield cried, "LEON!"

Sherry Birkin was beside herself as she screamed with Claire: "LEON, EVERYBODY, PLEASE HURRY!"

Anne Cunningham was lighter than Leon or Helena and outpaced them both as they ran. The prison guard almost reached Karena and Sienna. They saw Harley running towards them from the north. Leon was about to shout at the big man to turn around -

The quaking stopped. Instantly. The creaking and shuddering of the bridge stopped, as well. Surprised, Harley stopped in his tracks on the deck. Karena and Sienna looked at each other as Anne stopped only a few yards away from them. Leon and Helena slowed to a stop not far behind her. They looked at each other with wide eyes.

In the next instant, the silence was broken when a great, dark shape burst from the waters of Clearwater Stream and smashed into the underside of King's Bridge in the approximate center of its span. The incredible, devastating force of the impact made the bridge bow upward briefly as it broke in half with a deafening KRAKKK! Anne fell face-first on the deck as everyone else barely stayed on their feet. Karena thought fast...the masked specialist grabbed an arm of the lady sniper next to her and pointed to the side as she screamed, "SIENNA, MOVE TO THE TRUSSES!" As the women began to move, the great thing obscured by the fog descended into the murky waters again as the bridge collapsed in the center. Its shingled roof collapsed to block the north exit as Leon, Helena and the others found themselves on a deck suddenly, violently shifted to a nearly 40-degree angle.

Sienna and Karena had to leap for one side just before they lost their footing on the harshly canted deck, and barely made it. Sienna Miller hugged a horizontal beam harshly as Karena managed to straddle a diagonal beam with her lithe body. The blonde sniper got her bearings again, in spite of her fear. She cried, "Karena!"

Only a meter or two below her, Karena LesProux was hanging on. Keeping calm, the lady in black answered, "I am all right, Sienna! What about you?!"

The sniper worked on righting herself as she said, "I gotta get back to you on that - whoa! - the minute we're somewhere else!"

As their half of the bridge tilted into the stream below, Leon S. Kennedy and Helena Harper tried to run to the north...it didn't help as both quickly slipped on the damp deck that was suddenly at a very steep angle. They fell prone and began to slide down toward the center of the collapsed bridge. Leon desperately sought to find something, anything to hold onto as he slid, and he was rewarded - sort of - when his left hand found and clutched the edge of a break in the deck...he grunted as splinters sank deeply into his fingers, but he learned long ago to set aside pain, at least when it was minor like this. An instant after he stopped himself from sliding, he realized Helena was having the same trouble...she began to slide right by him, in fact, but with both fast thinking and reflexes, Leon reached out with his right hand and grabbed one of Helena's. He pulled the lady close to him, and she immediately clutched his body in her arms. He managed, "You okay?"

Helena looked at him with a grateful gaze and said softly, "I could be worse, thanks!"

The situation was like a strange comedy of errors at the moment because out of nowhere, Anne began sliding past them both, too! Thankfully, the prison guard was also quick when she had to be. The raven-haired girl grabbed hold of the back of Leon's leather jacket and stopped herself. Anne didn't put that much of an extra strain on Leon, fortunately. Helena looked at her and asked, "Anne, are you all right?!"

The green-eyed girl clutched at Leon's jacket needfully and said, "I-I-I don't know!"

Then, almost as a grand finale, the last of those still on the bridge made his presence known to Leon, Helena and Anne. Harley Morris' big frame slid past them fast because of his greater weight, and all the way he was crying out, "SHI-I-I-I-I-IT!" The three watched with shock as the medic slid all the way down, and they heard a huge splash.

Not far above Leon, Helena and Anne, Sienna and Karena saw what happened to the big man, too. They were friends and colleagues of Harley in the BSAA. Sienna cried, "HARLEY?! Omigod, are you dead?!" She and Karena shone the flashlights attached to their primary weapons down...first they saw Leon, Helena and Anne, and the trouble they were in...

...and then their bright lights finally found Harley far below. The big, heavily muscled man picked himself up from the water; his expression was sour because there was something damned wrong with the water...the murky stuff had a slimy feel to it. He looked up to the lights beaming down on him and he called upward, "Hey, Sienna! I'm alive, thanks for asking!" Harley knew he was lucky not to break anything or get impaled on a piece of wood.

A sudden, jolting, intense tremor that came from just outside. In the next instant, something huge smashed violently into the tilted roof and swept it aside like a mighty hand sweeping away an obstruction, and the medic was bowled off his feet. A great hole was created in the roof at the base of the north half as it dipped in the water. In a panic, Harley picked himself up again to see only grey mist through the massive rent...and then he saw IT, the thing that smashed into the bridge from below and destroyed it in the first place, and it was massive. The monster looked like a gigantic worm the color of dirty lavender over two meters thick, and he couldn't tell how long it was. He got the sense that most of its body was still submerged in the water just outside as its bulbous head hung spectrally in the mist.

That changed in a single profane moment when the skin of the monster's head split and peeled away to form a hood that reminded Harley of a King Cobra, and he the others hanging precariously above him saw the true face of the Split Worm, an inner head that was the color of human flesh. Harley Morris felt his sense of reality slip a little as his senses registered that the thing's huge inner mouth and teeth were so strangely human in appearance, too. The Split Worm issued a horrid roar, but Harley stared at the monster and said mildly, "My oh my...what big teeth you have, grandma..."

Sienna screamed, "What the hell IS that?!"

Karena shouted, "Whatever it is, we need to kill it! NOW!" Karena readied her carbine as her slender legs straddled the support she perched herself on, and she started firing on the Split Worm. Sienna quickly braced herself on her beam and began firing on the monster with her PSG-1. Both ladies were very, very careful not to hit Leon, Helena and Anne, who were between them and the monster. The Split Worm looked up the length of the half of the bridge at Sienna and Karena as they shot at it. They had hit it a few times, but most of those hits were against its super-tough outer skin. The women only succeeded in making the monster angry. It shifted its focus from Harley to them and its huge body smashed into the interior of the wrecked bridge...it roared as it prepared to crawl up the tilted deck to them.

Leon breathed, "Dammit!" He couldn't even reach for one of his weapons at the moment, but someone else could. Helena Harper moved one of the hands that clutched at Leon's body and she unholstered the Government .45 holstered at her right hip. She aimed down and fired several rounds into the monster's mouth, but the bullets seemed to have no effect. On Leon's other side, Anne could only stare down at the thing, horrified.

"DIE, you ugly fucker!" Sienna was giving it all she had with her sniper rifle, which usually dealt certain, instant death with one shot. But Cheryl Mason would have told them from experience that many, many more bullets were needed in order to weaken and kill this Split Worm. The monster's massive body began to crawl up the tilted deck, placing more stress on this weakened half of the bridge. At any moment, it seemed, everything would fall apart, and they'd fall into the wreckage below...

At this critical time, Harley Morris looked at the monster and said quietly, "Oh hell, no!" He deliberately drew his Lightning Hawk .50-Magnum from his holster and looked up...he knew what he felt he had to do to keep his friends from being harmed, ensure they completed their mission and found Rebecca. The big man yelled to his comrades in the BSAA, "Sienna! Karena! Please tell Rebecca I'm sorry I couldn't make it! Tell my family I was thinking of them!"

Sienna blinked, unsure she heard her friend right. "What?!"

Karena whispered, "Harley...!" The expression on her face under mask shifted to sadness as she realized what Harley was about to do.

Leon S. Kennedy also realized. The leader of Bravo Team looked down from where he hung precariously with Helena and Anne and yelled to his medic, "Don't do it, man!"

Harley honestly appreciated Leon's concern, but he said loudly, "If I don't, you're gonna get eaten!" As he felt a strange, welcoming calm inside, as he wished he could see his wife and kids again, the burly medic leveled his gun at the side of the Split Worm and shouted, "HEY, GRANDMA!" He emptied the clip in his hand-cannon as he roared, "LOOK MY WAY AGAIN, YOU UGLY MOTHERFUCKER!" The huge thing stopped cold and turned to look at the annoyance that got its attention...it descended as it roared again.

As the medic's teammates screamed to him from above, the Split Worm loomed like death itself before him, a hissing growl rushing from its slowly opening mouth. Erez 'Harley' Morris thought of Rebecca and wished he could see her one more time, too. He grinned broadly at the monster as he goaded, "Yeah, that's right! Show me those big teeth of yours..." His big hands moved to his tactical vest, and as he kept his eyes fixed on the monster, he felt his fists wrap around two grenades...he pulled them from his vest. "...cause this is your lucky night!" The thing's hideous mouth opened wider as it loomed closer. The medic's thumbs hooked into the rings of the grenades and pulled their pins...he kept his grip on them tight, because he didn't want them to detonate. Not yet. "You wanna know why?!" The big man could almost feel the Split Worm's massive body coil as it prepared to lunge. Harley Morris held the grenades close to his chest, and his smile was one of triumph as he yelled at the last moment: "CAUSE I'M THE DENTIST, BITCH!"

CHOMPPP! The Split Worm nearly swallowed the big man whole with one bite, and somewhere far above Sienna Miller wailed Harley's name in mournful anguish...

...but a handful of seconds later, the grenades detonated simultaneously and the thing's inner head exploded in a great blast of blood and gore. The thing's huge, dying body fell to the water and wreckage with a resounding crash. The Split Worm had never expected that a big man with an even bigger heart would be its last meal.

-4-

In a quiet bedroom far away, Rebecca Chambers asked fearfully, "Cheryl...?"

Cheryl Mason gazed back at her adored, and her expression had become deeply saddened as one of her hands held Rebecca's needfully. She began to say, "Your friend Harley...he's..." She couldn't say anymore.

Rebecca realized, and she was still so beautiful as her expression broke with grief and tears began to stream down her cheeks. She shook her head slowly as she moaned, "No...no, oh god, no..."

Cheryl's face lowered a little as she closed her eyes. She said gently, "He sacrificed himself to save his team, Becca. He thought you and his family when..." Cheryl said at last, "I am so, so sorry."

Rebecca cried for a moment, overwhelmed, before she drew on her inner strength to regain a measure of her composure. The pixie sniffed as tears still streamed down her cheeks...and she managed to say, "Harley was...was so protective of me, y'know? Th-there was one time, we...we talked about that m-motorcycle rally in South Dakota he went to every year. I asked if it was okay to go with him...j-just to see what it was like." Rebecca's quivering lips smiled as she remembered. "But...huh-Harley said, 'Rebecca, that's the last place y-you wanna go. You...you're a good girl, and I d...I d-don't want anything corrupting you!'" Rebecca tried to giggle, but her face broke into pure grief again as she cried for her lost friend.

Cheryl began to weep too, but she didn't feel her tears softly fall down her freckled cheeks...all that mattered to her was Rebecca, and that her adored was in terrible pain. The blonde drew closer to the pixie as they sat together on the bed, and her free hand lifted so that her slender fingers gently combed into the brunette's short hair. And Cheryl lowered her own defenses completely as she drew even closer...and she kissed one of Rebecca's wet cheeks gently, wishing she could take the girl's pain away...the pixie sighed as her shudders eased just feeling the blonde's lips touch her skin...

...and in the next moment, Cheryl Mason's full lips moved and kissed the lips of Rebecca Chambers as they sat together on the bed.

The kiss was chaste and brief, yet so full of gentleness and care. Rebecca felt so overwhelmed her expression shifted to one of sudden need, in spite of her sorrow. They both felt that perfect, wonderful warmth being so close to each other. Rebecca closed her crying eyes as she softly, hungrily kissed Cheryl back in the same way...when she stopped and opened her eyes again, she saw in Cheryl's quiet, desiring expression everything that she felt in her heart and soul. They kissed once more as their eyes closed, and it lasted for an even longer moment as their lips pressed together needfully, innocently, and there was a fire in both of their hearts that burned so bright because they were together.

The kiss came to an end, and for a moment they felt each other's breaths on their faces, they were so close. They wanted to give each other even more...but Rebecca thought of Harley again, and she couldn't contain her grief. The tears came again, and she couldn't stop crying. Cheryl took Rebecca into her slender arms and in a moment they were lying on the bed, holding each other as they both wept...keeping each other warm in spite of the cold of the fog outside...

TO BE CONTINUED