Author Note: Continuation to Secrets and Flies that starts three months after the end. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it their all too hopefully bring a final end to their hellish lifestyle. To do that, assistance will be required for some, unconventional characters...

I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie and/or video game plot (to date)

Please read & review as you wish!

B.

Updated 07-July-2021: Minor edits / corrections based on updates to Secrets & Flies

Update 06-Apr-2016: Thank-you for all the avid readers/comments/predictions/thoughts & ideas :) I appreciate it all!

I also want to give a personal shout-out to Eric, Bobby and Allen. You guys have been constant followers/supporters of this story and I appreciate all your comments and ideas as each chapter progresses. I wish I could respond to your reviews with comments in the review section, but because you have guest accounts, the site will not allow me to do so. So instead, I wanted to let you know here at the top of the next chapter that your suggestions are not falling on deaf ears. Please do keep in mind though that this is my story with a pre-planned plot points. I hope that'll help ease you through the events of the upcoming chapter. That being said, I'm also excited to hear what you have to say about what unfolds.

You all have great imaginations and if I don't incorporate your ideas here, it's not because they were bad, they just did not fit with my dynamic. Finally, you three should think of writing your own story. If you do, I'd love to read it and review just as faithfully as you have mine.

Without further adieu, I hope everyone is ready for the next installment with our band of misfits!

Calm Before the Storm

- 12 -

-Alice-

Soldiers were loading gear into one of the beige Hummers graciously supplied by Wesker. The men stopped and saluting Alice as she walked by, their faces stone and eyes hard, ready for battle. Alice nodded curtly, feeling for the first time that she was part of a well-organized army that understood the chain of command. The men returned to loading piles of green rucksacks into the back of a truck already overflowing with supplies. It sickened her that Wesker was sitting on a surplus of weapons, food, proper beds, while those who remained aboard The Arcadia are trying to survive with next to nothing.

Ada approached from the left, eyes narrowed. It was hard to tell if she was pissed more at Wesker's borrowed time, or that she had to take orders from Alice.

She grabbed Alice by the wrist, her grip as tough as iron, "I have something to show you," she whispered, dragging Alice away from the men.

Alice caught Claire's wandering eye across the hanger, curious to what they were up to. She shrugged in response, disappearing into a military tent. A short, fat, cylindrical tube was perched on a metallic charging station in the middle of the tent. Blue and yellow liquid swam inside the glass, glowing so bright it was almost blinding. There was a small keypad on the side monitoring battery percentage.

"What the hell is this?" Alice asked.

"This is the weapon to destroy The Red Queen." Ada replied. The machine suddenly beeped, signaling it was charged.

"How?"

Ada pressed the numbers on the keypad as the weapon detached from three metal clamps in the charging base. "The code is 0-4-2-7 to arm it. You'll do so when you're as close as possible to the main chamber. Once armed, you have three minutes before it explodes, wiping out anything, including the electrical circuits that run that bitch, within a 300 foot radius."

"So like an EMP," Alice reasoned, examining the moving liquid, "What's in it?"

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care, but this was what Wesker and his team tried to bring to the Pentagon a week ago."

Alice now understood why Ada was showing her this and no one else, "So Wesker expects me to set the bomb because he thinks I can resist her control."

Ada typed in another code, the liquid going dark and stagnate in the cylindrical tube. "This is why he wanted you here and why he had to wait until left the Moscow compound before sending Leon and I to that doomed ship."

Alice crossed her arms, miffed that Wesker was lying in wait. He had been planning this for awhile, and when Alice went to go get the T-Virus in Moscow, she gave him his golden ticket to finally put his plan into action. She picked up the weapon by it's handle, surprised at how light it was. Wesker was one sneaky bastard, even in his last breath he still wanted to cover all his bases. With himself, The Red Queen and Project Alice gone, it would be a true eradication of what remained of Umbrella's prodigal children.

"Three minutes and three hundred feet...doesn't leave much room for error." Alice remarked.

Ada placed a hand on Alice's shoulder, "I hope you can run fast," she replied with a smirk, turning to leave the tent.

Alice placed the weapon in a camo duffle bag. As she zipped it shut, she felt someone was watching her. Slowly, Alice reached for her gun, drawing it from her hip.

"Who's there?" she called, circling the empty tent with her gun drawn. With no response, Alice re-holstered her gun and grabbed the duffle bag before exiting the tent.

K-Mart stayed silent, keeping to the shadows, feeling tears on her cheeks and overhearing the entire conversation.

- Angela -

Everyone was moving with a purpose, especially those who weren't apart of the Arcadia crew. She sat on a bunk and watched the soldiers walk back and forth with bags of supplies, likely useless against whatever was awaiting them over the wall. Per Chris's request, she changed into military fatigues which included a bullet proof vest. She laughed that these Army assholes thought Kevlar would protect them from the creatures outside. They used teeth and claws, not bullets.

On the bed beside her were three weapons; a pistol and two machine guns. Her pockets were already stuffed with ammo, and a large hunting knife was strapped to the inside of her left ankle. Angela stood, glancing at her reflection in the small mirror attached to one of the tent poles. Her eyes were hollow, red hair pulled back into a pony tail, accentuating the freckles dotting her face.

The bullet wound had healed well, but there was still pain when she moved too aggressively. That was okay, the pain reminded her she was still alive. Her eyes then cast down to her abdomen. The one they she had to look forward to was gone and replaced with darkness and sorrow.

Angela grabbed four grenades from the crate beside her, stuffing them into the pockets of her cargo pants. She made a promise to herself that she would shed blood this one last time to keep her friends alive, but then, that was it.

- Leon -

He stood with Chris, their arms folded over their chests, watching the unnamed foot soldiers loading up the trucks. He rose an eyebrow as Alice shoved an over sized duffel bag into the back of the truck, but decided it was best not to ask questions.

Leon turned to Chris, "So you and Alice have quite the history huh?"

Chris scowled, "Unfortunately yes."

"She seems like the type of person you'd want on your good side,"

Chris turned, looming over Leon, testosterone and anger floating around them like a cloud, "Whatever she's told you, it's a lie," he growled before pointing at Alice, "I'd watch my back if I were you."

"From who? You or her?" Leon called after him as Ada, who saw the altercation, walked towards him.

"You know, I can make it look like an accident once we're over this wall," she offered with a smirk.

"He's harmless, at least to everyone but himself. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Leon frowned, "Are you sure? For the first time today I swear I saw you show emotion," he stated with a smile, noticing the kill look in her eyes. He held up his hands in surrender, "I'm not judging just asking, as a friend."

Leon reached out and put a hand on Ada's shoulder, but she grabbed his wrist and bent it behind his back, stretching it as far as she could.

"Friends are a sign of weakness and I'm not weak." Ada replied before letting go and walking off.

- Claire -

"Alight everyone, listen up!" She heard Alice yell as a sea of buzz cut army brats turned their attention to their newest leader.

Claire stopped tightening the straps on some cargo and walked over to K-Mart. The young girl was chewing her fingernails, some so bad that they were already starting to bleed.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"N-Nothing," K-Mart stuttered, her face ashen and eyes darting from her back to Alice.

"Claire!" Alice yelled to catch the redheads attention, "You, K-Mart, and Leon are with me."

"Copy that" she called back with a curt nod and smile, hoping that would ease the tension.

Alice continued handing out the assignments; Ada, Luther and another man named Mason, an ex police officer from Baltimore, were leaders of group two. This left Chris, Angela, and Jill to head up the third.

With no time for disagreements, they separated into their assigned armored trucks. Driving single file towards the wall, a crew of welders was working on opening the metal slabs. Claire watched them work from a window the size of a cracker box and made of thick bulletproof glass. Sparks rained down like sparklers in a Fourth of July festival. It was almost beautiful, if not for what was awaiting them on the other side.

They rolled to a stop as the gates opened, leading them into a safe zone between them and the next barricade. What they thought was only one wall was two, identical metal walls.

- K-Mart -

She looked out the small Plexiglas window, eyeing the evenly spaced out gun turrets. They were two feet apart and automatic, controlled at a safe distance by soldiers. They waited in idling vehicles for the metal slabs behind to close before the ones ahead opened, bringing them face to face with whatever demons The Red Queen was controlling.

Seated across her was a boy her age with jet black hair and piercing brown eyes. He smiled nervously, his cheeks turning crimson while pretending to re-adjust the ammo pouch strapped to his utility belt. K-Mart noted that the embroidered name tag on his vest "Mason"; the same last name as the ex cop in the convoy behind them.

"Is your dad the cop?" K-Mart asked.

"Yeah. I'm Jacob, what's your name?" he replied.

"K-Mart."

He rose his eyebrow skeptically, "That's a weird name."

She shrugged, growing so a custom to it so much that she forgot her real name. "It's where Claire and the others found me five years ago. Those who knew my name were dead so I decided to change it."

Jacob smiled, but it quickly faded when the truck rumble back to life, "I guess there's no time like an apocalypse to reinvent yourself."

The gate ahead of them opened, but only darkness and silence stared back at them. Buildings were bulldozed to rubble or crimson with flames. Streets were barren, sidewalks littered with dead bodies of both creatures and soldiers. They slowly out into the open, their headlights the only thing illuminating the way. Where were all the creatures that were targeted by turret guns and rocket launchers at a seemingly alarming rate?

"Do you guys see anything?" K-Mart asked, glued to the window.

Alice scanned the windshield from the passenger seat, trying to find any sign of movement. Silence was more worrisome than a bombardment of creatures. A deep feeling of dread began to brew inside her, but it was too late to back out now.

"Where the hell are they?" Jill's voice cracked over the radio.

"What the hell have you gotten us into Alice?" Chris barked, once again pissed at the woman's poor intuition.

As the gate behind them was about to seal shut a loud screech came from above. A flood of winged creatures dove down from the sky, skimming over the military vehicles & diving into the opened gate to attack base camp. Rockets and gunfire erupted from the top of the wall, the sky suddenly lit with flashes of white.

"Shit! What the fuck!" Luther yelled over the radio as screams could be heard in the background.

"Drive!" Alice yelled to a solider with the name tag "Rogers" as he tried to put the truck into gear, but it was too late. The winged creatures began to take an interest in the vehicles, pecking and headbutting the metal sides and roof trying to get in.

The truck rocked back and forth from the weight of the creatures piling a top of one another. One of the men went to man the flamethrower a top the truck in an attempt to scare them away and hopefully make a break for it. Instead, the fire only aggravated them more, their disfigured faces with bulbous red eyes and oversized, pointy ears chomped at the windows using fangs as long as a grown mans foot. They screamed and squawked at their friends, the flames burning their large wings and furred bodies to a crisp.

Claire watched as the bats overran the wall, collecting in a mountain of dead bodies in the doorway, jamming it open. That was when more creatures, those with four or more legs and two or more heads rushed to the hoard, climbing the dead with their over-sized paws and claws, pounding again and again into the interior wall in hopes of breaking through.

"Jesus," she breathed and turned to Alice, "They're not interested in us, they want through that wall."

"Claire!" K-Mart yelled as they turned to the blonde.

She watched a creature, a hybrid of a rhinoceros and an elephant come barreling from shadows. It struck the side of the third armored truck, rolling it like a child's toy four times before it finally rested on it's side. The creatures horned head was through the windshield, breaking the glass in one swift swipe. It pulled out the drivers lifeless body, pierced atop its horn like a marshmallow on a stick. More bat creatures dive bombed the overturned Hummer, scrounging for their next target.

"Chris! Jill!" Claire screamed as there truck was hit on the side, tossing them like rag dolls before it finally came to rest on its roof.

The sound of claws and teeth scrapping at the underbelly of the truck shook Claire back to consciousness, blood trickling from her head wound. She grabbed her assault rifle and shot upwards as the bats deformed head exploded above like a popped balloon. Those who were knocked unconscious became quick food for the creatures, grabbing them from their strapped in bucket seats, ripping their torsos from their legs head first. Claire, Jacob, K-Mart, and Leon fired until they were temporarily deaf from gunfire echoing inside the metal vehicle.

With the small window of opportunity, Alice kicked out the broken windshield, grabbing the duffel bag beside her and stumbling out into the war zone. She fired her sawed off shotguns, taking down whatever creature she could. K-Mart, Claire, Jacob and finally Leon climbed out the back, ears ringing and coated in blood. They stood back to back in a circle, firing until there was a lull.

"We need to find cover!" Chris yelled over coms.

"There's a building five hundred feet West of us, make a break for it." Ada replied.

"Copy!" Alice yelled as she rounded the truck, catching Claire's eye. "Help me clear a path."

The redhead nodded as they moved as a group, focusing all gunfire on the only upright vehicle left, the one Ada and Luther were trapped inside. it was only a matter of time before they were hit a well. When they were within twenty feet of the the vehicle, Alice broke from the group, heading for the abandoned drivers door.

"Alice! What are you doing!" Claire yelled.

"Claire, please don't follow. They'll need a leader like you." Alice replied.

Claire scowled, "You're not leaving us behind god damn it! We're a team!"

Alice tossed the duffel bag into the cab "I need to do this on my own Claire. Trust me, you being there will only make things harder." She noticed K-Mart rounding the passenger door, sliding into the blood soaked seat. "Get out K-Mart."

"I'm going with you, we're going with you." The young girl snapped.

"I hate to break up this Kodak Moment, but I say we have about two minutes before those elephant fuckers come after us!" Jacob yelled, firing the last round of his mag into an oncoming bat.

Alice sighed, "Change of plan, get to the Hummer. We need to go now!" she yelled over the coms, starting the engine.

- Angela -

She heard Alice's order through the crackle of her headset, but was still frozen in a pitted building on the verge of collapsing any minute. From the truck to the building, ten men were picked up by those oversize man-bats talons and whisked off into the moonlight. The only ones who made it here were Chris, Jill, Luther, Mason and herself. As she sat, watching the carnage unfold, she was reminded of the monster movies her father loved. It wouldn't be long until they had broken through the wall where Wesker and the rest of military would become creature kibble. Her eyes moved to the half elephant half rhino BOW still ramming the side of Alice's truck. Satisfied it got it' kill, it ran off through a path of dead bats, back into the darkness.

"Come on Angie, we need to move." Jill whispered grabbing the young woman's arm.

She fought back, "I'm staying."

"What!" Chris snapped.

"You need a distraction from those things or you'll never make it to the Hummer."

Jill grabbed Angela's hand, "Hell no! You're coming with us." she tried to keep her voice strong, but the tears came anyways. Before Angela could answer Jill embraced the young woman, feeling her rigid body, "I love you," she whispered before Chris pulled her away.

"We need to go, now!"

Luther gave her an embrace before she exchanged a curt nod with Mason, watching them all flee the rubble and make a break towards the vehicle. Chris turned back as Angela gave him a small wave and smile. He knew her reasons and nothing he, or anyone else, would say would change her mind. For the first time since he was a kid, his eyes glistened with tears.

She waited until they were halfway to truck before stepping out into the war zone. It was eerily quiet, making her more on edge. Angela stood in the open, catching K-Mart's wide eyes from the passenger seat of the Hummer. She was trying to break free from Chris's grip to run to her one and only friend. Her fingers played with the grenades stuffed into her pockets while giving K-Mart a small nod, turning her back to the truck, unable to look at Alice or Claire. She waited to hear the truck begin to move when a deep, loud growl came from the darkness. These creatures were smart, waiting until their prey moved before they ambushed again.

Angela whistled loudly, grabbing the attention of the two ragged, patchy fur bodies. Steam was wafting from their nostrils like a cartoon bull in a bullfight. The two creatures peaked out from the dark, barring teeth stained with blood. They made a break for Angela, forgetting about the vehicle getting away while the ground began to shake under their weight. As they came closer, Angela pulled the pins on the grenades, clutching them close to her chest and closing her eyes.

"I'll see you soon baby girl,"

Suddenly a large explosion erupted, engulfing the creatures and Angela who was only seconds away from being sliced in two.

T.B.C.

Hope you all enjoyed! Please let me know what you think :)

Always open to suggestions/comments/concerns/praise/ etc.