Familiar Evil

by trestwho

Louise's summoning of her familiar was supposed to be the ultimate, final proof that she was truly a mage. But, instead she somehow found herself in a place called Raccoon City on an entirely different world. A world where magic didn't exist, and when that world falls apart, she and the boy who was supposed to be her familiar must fight for their lives against the evil around them.

10. Escalation

Familiar Evil (ZnT/Resident Evil)
Chapter 10: Escalation

[~][~]

Tristain Academy of Magic

Kingdom of Tristain, Halkegenia

Standing in the middle of an open courtyard, with the sun shining down from a cloudless sky and surrounded by dozens of guards, Princess Henrietta de Tristain couldn't help but feel nervous. It was hard not to be, given everything that was going on. With her mother consumed by grief, Henrietta already had to be burdened with the responsibility of governing a country. A country ruled by nobles who regarded her as nothing more than a child in over her head and whose greatest ally was about to be overthrown by rebels. Until Louise's disappearance, the inevitable fate of Albion was what dominated Henrietta's mind. All of her advisors agreed that the Tudors were going to lose the war. Reconquista had gained too much support, too much territory, and too many supplies for the Albionese Royal Family and their Loyalists to recover.

While Henrietta had attempted to argue for Tristain to offer clandestine aid to their allies, both for practical and personal reasons, at the end of the day they simply didn't have the manpower to provide much support, if any at all. She might've been able to organize something on her own, but Louise's disappearance drew all of her attention and prevented her from doing so. By now, it was an unspoken yet obvious truth that Albion would fall, and Reconquista would set their sights on Tristain next. As the weakest of the four Brimiric Kingdoms, Tristain made a perfect target to expand Reconquista's continental aims. Knowing this, and unable to rely upon their previous allies, Henrietta had been forced to accept something she would've once thought impossible. By the end of the month, Henrietta was to be wed to Kaiser Albrecht III, the current Emperor of Germania. His desire to marry Henrietta had nothing to do with personal feelings. All he wanted was to merge his bloodline with that of the Founder, thereby giving him, his descendants, and Germania as a whole more legitimacy in the eyes of the Four Brimiric Kingdoms. In return, Tristain would have the protection of Germania's vast and impressive army, which should be more than enough to secure Tristain's security.

The thought of effectively being sold off as a bargaining chip to a man she had never met before her engagement, and who didn't even love her, didn't sit right with Henrietta. If she could get away with it, Henrietta would've called it off. But, unfortunately, she didn't have a choice. Tristain needed this alliance with Germania, otherwise they would be destroyed. For the sake of her people, Henrietta knew she had to endure.

Despite her trepidation, the engagement had been going fairly well. She was even set to travel to Germania in order to prepare for the upcoming wedding. Then, just before she departed, the palace received word of Louise's disappearance from the Tristain Academy of Magic. Without even a second thought, Henrietta had altered her plans, departing for the academy personally while having a letter sent to the Kaiser explaining the sudden change of plans. Undoubtedly Emperor Albrecht wouldn't appreciate her decision, but Louise took priority. Both because the Vallières were perhaps the royal family's greatest allies, and because of the simple fact that Louise was her friend. Her best friend, in fact, ever since they were playmates as children. Although they hadn't seen each other personally for a few years by now, Henrietta viewed Louise almost like the sister she never had, one she could trust with her life and would do anything for.

Now, all of her attention was focused squarely on their current endeavor. The preparations for the rescue operation were still ongoing, but soon would reach the point where they would be ready to depart. It was an operation unlike anything Tristain, nor even the entire continent, had ever done before. They would be going to another world, a world supposedly without magic yet clearly capable of things they couldn't even conceive of. Louise had somehow brought herself to that world, all because she happened to be a Void Mage. Had the Pope himself not announced it, Henrietta might not have believed it. Everyone knew that Void was lost since the Founder's death six-thousand years before, but somehow Louise held the power of Void without anyone even noticing.

More than a few times, Henrietta had spotted Louise's family and her professors metaphorically kicking themselves for not realizing sooner, having previously dismissed the mere idea as impossible, but Henrietta was far more focused on the reactions of those from the Church. While on the surface Pope Vittorio seemed genuine in his desire to secure Louise safely, Henrietta wasn't convinced. Months of dealing with self-centered nobles had shattered her preconceived notions. People in power only ever did things if they somehow benefited, and the Church was no exception. They wanted something. Henrietta didn't know what, other than that it clearly concerned Louise. Agnès, who didn't feel shy at all in admitting to Henrietta her disdain towards the Church along with her Protestant views when in private, had even suggested that they intended to use Louise as a weapon of some kind. While the full capabilities of Void magic were unknown, it was undoubtedly powerful. The thought horrified Henrietta, and she didn't want to think that the Church would go that far. But it was certainly a possibility, not just from the Church but from others within Tristain itself. Henrietta knew that, if they could get away with it, any number of parties would try to use Louise for their benefit. Once Louise was returned safely, there was no telling what would happen. Whatever it was, Henrietta knew she had to protect her friend from it.

"Princess," Agnès called out, cutting into Henrietta's thoughts and causing her to jump slightly. Regaining her composure quickly, Henrietta turned to face Agnès who was looking at her with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Agnès?" Henrietta asked, acting as though everything was normal. Agnès didn't seem convinced, then turned to face the open field surrounding the academy with her arms crossed behind her back.

"The rescue party should begin arriving any moment now," Agnès announced, causing Henrietta to smile.

"Good, that's great to hear," Henrietta replied, a smile on her face.

Over the course of several days, they had looked through dozens of dossiers and reports of individuals from across the entire kingdom. While the Church had generously offered to lend some of its forces beyond just Julio, their request was respectfully declined. At the end of the day, this was a purely Tristainian concern. Besides, the last thing any of them wanted was to be even more indebted to the Church than they'd already be once this was over. All of the prospective candidates were considered to be among the best of the best in their respective fields. Soldiers, scouts, hunters, healers, battlemages, and more. All of them were impressive, and Henrietta wished she could've accepted them all, but time constraints, the practical concerns of sneaking even more people into another world without raising too much suspicion, and other such matters prevented them from doing so. In the end, they managed to get twenty people to agree to the extraordinary assignment. As they initially decided, the party would be made up of eight mages and twelve commoners, with Duchess Vallière herself leading the mission.

Nodding to herself slightly, Henrietta glanced at her personal representative in the mission and asked, "Agnès, be honest with me. What do you think of our chances? Do you have any concerns?"

Agnès looked Henrietta straight in the eyes, and without a shred of deception admitted, "Princess, I have nothing but concerns. We are marching blind into an unknown location in an entirely separate world. A world that we only got a mere glimpse of. That glimpse didn't give us much to work with. We don't know what language they speak, much less if we can translate it. We don't know how they dress nor how they act, which will make blending in much harder. We don't even know how they govern themselves. The worst part is that we won't know until we're already there once the Pope casts the spell in three days."

Henrietta frowned, not liking that answer but appreciating the honesty. Turning back towards the field and folding her hands in front of her waist, Henrietta said, "I see. Do you think our preparations are enough?"

"They might be, or they might not," Agnès sternly declared, causing Henrietta's frown to deepen. "There's too many unknowns to say for certain. If the Pope was able to cast again to let us scout out the area, perhaps we could know more…"

"But doing that would prolong our wait," Henrietta finished, and Agnès nodded.

The princess sighed and hung her head. For as much as she didn't want to hear it, everything Agnès was saying was absolutely correct. For all their preparations, they simply had no idea if it would be enough, and with no chance of reconnaissance they were effectively marching in blind. Even someone with little to no experience in military matters like herself could recognize how disastrous that could be. Duke Vallière had even complained about that very thing when he thought she wasn't listening. Logically, they should wait to conduct some kind of surveillance and get more information about where exactly they were going, as well as what awaited them on the other side of the World Door, but they had no idea what danger Louise might be in. Waiting simply wasn't an option. They had to go now.

Releasing yet another sigh and shaking her head, Henrietta steeled herself and waited. Growing nervous and uncertain now would only make the situation worse. She then admitted, "Be that as it may, I suppose we don't have any other option."

"No, we don't," Agnès admitted, releasing a sigh of her own. "I promise you, Princess. It doesn't matter what awaits us in this new world. On my life, I assure you that Louise Vallière will return to Tristain safely."

Henrietta smiled softly at her bodyguard, confidant, and friend, then replied, "I know you will. That's why I'm sending you."

Agnès smiled back towards Henrietta for a brief moment, then steeled herself once more as they heard a few more people walk over. Turning her head, Henrietta saw that it was Duke and Duchess Vallière, joined by Professor Colbert, Headmaster Osmond, Cardinal Mazarin, Pope Vittorio, and his Familiar servant Julio Chesaré. They were all walking straight towards her and Agnès, clearly wanting to join them for when the rescuers arrived.

"Princess," Pope Vittorio politely greeted her. Henrietta demurely smiled and gave a reverent bow, while Agnès just lowered her head slightly. The Pope waved his hand, silently telling them to stop which they quickly obliged. Turning towards the field as well, Pope Vittorio said, "More of my strength and willpower has returned to me. I should be able to cast the spell as planned in three days."

"That's good to hear," Henrietta replied with an earnest smile on her face. She then turned towards the Vallières, particularly the Duchess, then asked, "Duchess Vallière, I trust you are finishing your personal preparations?"

"I'll be ready to go as soon as the mission starts," Karin answered immediately, without an ounce of hesitation or worry. From how cold her eyes looked, Henrietta couldn't help but feel a pang of nervousness shoot through her. Karin de la Vallière was an intimidating figure, but Henrietta supposed that made her perfect for the task.

Nodding to herself, Henrietta spared a glance at both Julio and Professor Colbert. She couldn't say anything regarding what skills they would bring to the table, but apparently Colbert had served many years as part of an elite magical task force before retiring to become a teacher. Plus he was a Square-class fire mage, which would always be useful. As for Julio, Pope Vittorio had extensively claimed that his skills were up to par. Agnès had personally sparred with him a few times to verify that claim, and true to the Pope's words Julio knew what he was doing. He won about as many of their spars against Agnès as she did. If nothing else, that proved that Julio was a superlative fighter.

For several minutes, the group stayed there in silence, content to just wait for the others to arrive. Then, off in the distance, they saw a creature rapidly approach. Once it got closer, they noticed that the shape belonged to that of a silvery-grey griffin. As it neared them, allowing the onlookers who had been joined by curious students and members of the faculty to see the grey-haired man riding atop the mighty beast, the griffin slowed down tremendously, allowing it to land safely.

"Thank you, boy," the man said to his mount, affectionately patting the griffin's thick neck before disembarking. This allowed Henrietta a chance to get a good look at him, even though she recognized the magic knight immediately.

"Viscount Wardes," Duke Vallière greeted him with a warm smile, which Wardes quickly returned.

"Duke and Duchess Vallière! A pleasure, as always," Wardes replied, then his smile fell. "I just wish it was under…better circumstances. Apologies for not arriving sooner. There were issues in my family's holdings that required my personal attention. Only now were they settled enough for me to depart."

"There is no need to apologize, Viscount," Karin replied, her face and tone of voice neutral. "We simply thank you for your assistance in this matter."

Wardes shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Now, Duchess Vallière, you do not need to thank me. After all, what kind of man would I be if I let my fiancé be in danger when I could've done something to help her?"

Both Vallières nodded in approval, as did Henrietta. As captain of Tristain's illustrious Griffin Knights, Viscount Jean-Jacques de Wardes was perhaps one of the most skilled men in her kingdom's employ. He was actually the first person she and the Vallières had nominated, with him accepting the request as soon as he got word of it. Combined with him being a Square-class wind mage, he would be a tremendous asset to the team. Shame that he wouldn't be able to bring his familiar with him, as a griffin would stand out far too much.

"My lord, one of the servants will carry your belongings to your room," Osmond offered, with the servant in question stepping up, but to their surprise Wardes shook his head.

"No need to burden yourself with that," Wardes declined. "I only brought the bare essentials with me, and I am more than capable of carrying them myself. I would, however, need to know where I will be staying before our mission starts."

"Of course," the servant, a middle aged man with an impressive moustache on his face, replied. There was a noticeable smile of relief, and it wasn't hard for Henrietta to surmise why. Most nobles had their commoner servants do everything for them, from carrying their belongings to even changing them, but Wardes was one of the rare few who didn't.

With the servant beckoning Wardes to follow him with an outstretched arm, they disappeared into the academy's main building. Returning their attention to the road leading into the academy itself, the princess and the others watched and waited for more to arrive. Over the course of the next few hours, more and more members of the party made their way to the academy. Some came in the same way Wardes did, arriving on a personal mount. Others came collectively in carriages.

As to be expected, the mages were the first to arrive, most of whom were Chevalier knights. Joining Viscount Jean-Jacques de Wardes, Duchess Karin de la Vallière, and Professor Jean Colbert were the Hauet twins. Both Triangle-class water mages, with turquoise eyes that matched their long, light-blue hair, Alphonse and Gabrielle de Hauet were renowned healers who had won praise during the last border skirmish with Germania. Given how they would be going deep into unknown territory, having access to healing magic was essential. Alphonse had a much sterner look on his face as he absorbed everything around him, while Gabrielle appeared much more cheerful and almost eager to start. Henrietta wasn't confusing her attitude with dismissal, however, as she knew Gabriella de Hauet was just as dedicated to rescuing Louise as her twin brother.

Behind the Hauets were the pair of Triangle-class Earth mages they had selected for the expedition. Baron Gilles de Valluy was a battlemage who had formerly served under Duke Vallière, one who specialized in forming groups of golems to attack the enemy while taking the brunt of the enemy's attention. He was a middle-aged, broad-shouldered, muscular man with a thick black beard and stern brown eyes. Gilles certainly looked intimidating, yet his face brightened as he beheld his former commander for perhaps the first time in years and enthusiastically declared he would bring the Vallière's missing daughter back himself.

Alongside him was Roselyne de Cazenave, a slender, tall woman with tan skin and short brown hair. Unlike her fellow earth mage, she specialized in manipulating the earth itself to form structures to take shelter in or otherwise alter terrain to their advantage. Anything from raised vantage points, chokepoints, and even localized earthquakes to disorient the enemy's forces were all things she was capable of doing. She had a much sterner attitude than Baron Valluy, and was much younger. Her body, however, sported plenty of scars along her arms, and a noticeable one on her left cheek under her eye. Given how nobles had access to healing magic that could easily remove any scarring before it set in, it was clear to Henrietta and everyone else that she deliberately allowed those scars to remain there. For what reason, they didn't know.

The last mage to arrive was Bernadette de Favre, a Triangle-class fire mage. Like Roselyne, she was among the youngest of the group, with long, bright red hair that was tied up in a ponytail that contrasted nicely with her light skin. There was a thin smile on her face as she bowed towards her greeters, an action that her phoenix familiar echoed from atop her shoulder. While Colbert admitted he was more suited to area of effect, she used her magic in a much more concentrated and precise way. A methodology that proved devasting when she launched concentrated bolts of fire to decimate her target without severely damaging the area around them.

As each of the mages arrived, they were greeted by a personal maid or servant who carried their belongings while escorting them to their rooms. Henrietta couldn't help but notice that it was then that Pope Vittorio took his leave, not waiting to do so until after the commoner soldiers arrived. While Julio remained in his stead, Henrietta couldn't help but frown for a moment. While he likely didn't mean anything of it, it was clear that the Pope valued mages much more than the common people. It was an attitude that was far from uncommon among the nobility, something that Henrietta hated. She was to be Queen of Tristain, responsible for ruling and caring for all of her people, not just the nobility. Yet, with few exceptions such as the Vallières, Tristain's noble families hardly seemed to care about the common people unless it directly benefited them. If doing so had no immediate benefit, or perhaps had the slightest inclination that it would threaten their hold on power, it was dismissed without even a second thought. It was an attitude that Henrietta found incredibly self-serving and backwards. But it wasn't something that was directly relevant to their current situation, so she let the frustration pass.

They waited another hour for the commoners to arrive, with the academy's maids and servants attending to their every need. None of them talked very much, leaving further discussion of the mission until all the rescuers were present. Nor were they open to trivial conversation, leaving Henrietta to stew in her thoughts once more. Luckily, that didn't last very long as a lone rider on horseback sped towards the academy, kicking up clouds of dirt in his wake.

"Hold on," Karin de la Vallière spoke up, narrowing her eyes, "I don't believe he's with the rescue party."

"Hmm," Duke Vallière hummed while narrowing his eyes as well.

Now that it was brought up, Henrietta couldn't help but notice it. The commoner soldiers, most of whom were recommended by Agnès herself, were being transported to the academy together in a wagon. None of them were supposed to arrive on their own by horseback. As the rider drew closer, Henrietta's suspicion compelled her to stand up from the chair she had been sitting on.

"Princess, urgent letter from the palace! It's a report from scouts in Albion!" the rider called out, quickly skidding to a stop in front of her specifically. Catching a glimpse at his uniform, Henrietta recognized the badge of the Tristain Courier's Guild, whose services were chartered by the royal family to carry important messages and packages across the kingdom. In his hand was a small scroll with the royal seal, which Henrietta carefully took.

Nervously gulping as a sudden pit formed in her stomach, Henrietta looked up and said, "Thank you. Do you require payment, or were you paid upfront?"

"The guild was paid upfront, your Highness," the courier assured, then politely bowed to her from atop his horse. He turned around then, just as quickly as he arrived, rode out from the academy, leaving them all behind.

Everyone's eyes were on her now, and so with another gulp Henrietta carefully broke the wax seal with a knife offered by Agnès. Unfurling the scroll, Henrietta began to read silently, and her heart sunk quickly.

"Princess Henrietta, it is with grave news that I must report that Newcastle has fallen," Henrietta read, her hands beginning to shake. Agnès and the others quickly looked on in concern, with Agnès and the Vallières' faces falling with realization. "While the Loyalists put up a valiant defense, holding out for several days, they were eventually routed and slaughtered to the last man. Unfortunately, Prince Wales Tudor was among them. He died with honor, fighting alongside his men and rallying them before finally being overwhelmed. They are presently looting the entire castle for valuables. Strangely, they seem to be searching for something in particular. What it is, I cannot say without drawing closer. Luckily, they expended a considerable number of their forces in taking Newcastle, which should buy us time to build up our forces and fortify, but I do not know how much.

I will remain in Albion to continue monitoring the situation. For the Glory of Tristain."

Finishing the letter, Henrietta crumpled the parchment in her hands. She was silent at first, barely able to contain herself, then Headmaster Osmond quietly asked, "What did it say?"

A few moments passed, then Henrietta answered, "Our scouts…our scouts in Albion are reporting that Newcastle has fallen, and Prince Wales is dead."

"Founder…" Julio muttered, his eyes widening. "With Albion fallen, that means—"

"Tristain is in Reconquista's sights as we speak," Duke Vallière finished, a deep scowl forming as he clenched his chair. Unable to look him in the eyes, Henrietta nodded.

As the implications settled in more and more, Henrietta's breath hitched, and tears began to pool in her eyes. With sadness and compassion in his eyes, Cardinal Mazarin comfortingly placed his hand on her shoulder, then offered, "Princess, you don't need to burden yourself anymore. I'll handle the rest."

"I…" Henrietta started to protest, then stopped herself. She wanted to continue, to stand strong, but knew that she couldn't.

With a heavy heart, she nodded in agreement, then walked away with Agnès beside her. From the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but notice that both the Duke and Duchess Vallière were regarding her with knowing, judgmental eyes and slight frowns on their faces. Neither of them said a word, but it was enough for Henrietta to feel their disapproval.

She retreated into the nearest private building, which ended up being the bathhouse. As soon as Agnès locked the door, Henrietta's composure broke, and she wrapped her bodyguard up in a deep hug while she sobbed into her shoulder. Agnès didn't judge her nor did she say a word as she soothingly rubbed the back of her head, trying her best to offer whatever comfort she could.

Henrietta wasn't just crying about the Fall of Albion, nor the fate of Prince Wales. It was for what she knew it all meant. With Wales gone, the Loyalists lost their symbol to rally around, losing whatever morale they had left. They would either surrender completely, or soon be eradicated. Reconquista's conquering of Albion was effectively complete. Soon they would set their sights on Tristain, and when they found what they were looking for, Tristain's alliance with Germania would be destroyed before it had any chance to take off.

"I'm a fool…" Henrietta sobbed, tears and snot trailing down her face. "I shouldn't have sent that letter…"

"No, you're not," Agnès comforted. "You were in love. There's nothing foolish about that."

Henrietta didn't know if Agnès was lying or not. Part of her felt that she was, but Henrietta didn't care. She needed whatever comfort Agnès could provide. Internally, though, she knew what was about to happen. While there was hope that Wales did the pragmatic thing and destroyed the letter, she knew he didn't. Wales was far too sentimental, and loved her too much to consider such a thing. In hindsight, that was a poor decision. Henrietta didn't know how Reconquista knew about the letter, but it was obvious that was what they were searching for. The Vallières clearly surmised the truth of her relationship with Wales as well, judging by the looks they gave her. Once Reconquista found that letter, which would confirm that Henrietta's relationship with Prince Wales went far beyond simple courtship, all they would have to do is hand it over to Emperor Albrecht. With his bride revealed to have been 'soiled,' the ensuing scandal would result in the wedding being canceled. Tristain would be alone, easy pickings for Reconquista.

It seemed as though Henrietta's reign as monarch, even if in all but name, was already doomed all because of a stupid decision made years before. Yet, as she considered this, her mourning began to be replaced by a feeling she couldn't quite describe at first. It took a moment to recognize it, but as she thought more and more about what she had to do right at that moment, she realized it was the determination of one who had nothing left to lose. Right now, it didn't matter if Tristain would be alone to defend itself against Reconquista's inevitable invasion. What mattered right now was that her friend, Louise de la Vallière, needed her help just to get home.

Pulling away from Agnès, Henrietta used an offered handkerchief to wipe away the tears and snot. Steeling herself, Henrietta began to march to the door of the bathhouse. Not waiting for Agnès to unlock it for her, Henrietta firmly gripped the doorhandle and unlocked it herself. It didn't matter if her days as monarch were numbered, nor if her most important allies thought little of her now. Henrietta was determined to make sure she at least did something meaningful with what little time she had left. Even if it was the last thing she would do, Henrietta silently vowed to get Louise home. Then she would worry about Albion, and if need be follow in her lover's footsteps.

With newfound determination, Henrietta opened the door, and stepped out as the light from the sun enveloped her.

---

"The princess seems energetic," Kirche observed as she looked out the window of Sylphid's stable, Tabitha sitting beside her and Flame wrapped arounds her legs.

While most of the mages were able to house their familiars in their rooms, many of the summoned creatures were simply too large to do so comfortably. As such, there were multiple dedicated stables to house those familiars, one of which held Sylphid. Or Irukukwu, as her actual name apparently was. It was still confusing to her which was which. It certainly didn't help that said familiar openly didn't care which name she was called. Kirche supposed that if Sylphid was perfectly fine with the name then she could keep calling her that, but it was still odd to her.

Wanting to break up the silence they found themselves in, not to mention distract herself from the smell of all the animals around her, Kirche asked, "What do you think was in that letter?"

"Probably a report about Albion," Tabitha answered, keeping an eye on the Princess' group while simultaneously reading a book. To any onlookers, it simply looked as though they were a pair of students tending to their familiars while relaxing, certainly nothing to be suspicious of.

"Oh," Kirche muttered, frowning at the unspoken implication. Assuming Tabitha was correct, and Kirche had learned to trust Tabitha's instincts in these sorts of matters, there was only one reason why Princess Henrietta would react in such a way.

"Albion's fallen, hasn't it?" Kirche asked, despite already knowing the answer, and Tabitha nodded.

"Most likely," Tabitha replied. Briefly, her fingers clenched the bindings of her book tighter, but it lasted for only a moment. It was long enough for Kirche to understand, and she let out a sigh.

"If Albion's fallen, that means Tristain's next," Kirche surmised, and once again Tabitha nodded. Releasing yet another sigh, Kirche added, "From the looks of it, Henrietta knows that. Yet she's acting as though everything's fine right now."

"She's most likely in denial," Tabitha suggested, turning the page in her book. "Or being naïve."

"Perhaps," Kirche admitted with a nod.

Although, as she studied the princess more, Kirche was able to recognize some kind of passion, a fire lit inside of her as she rejoined the group of adults. If she was in denial, it didn't seem to be slowing her down any. Didn't change anything, though. Without outside help, there was no way Tristain would survive an Albionese invasion. They had the largest navy in the entire continent, so they'd be able to roll right over Tristain before moving on to the rest. Most likely Reconquista would be defeated there, either by Gallia or Germania, but that didn't mean much for Tristain itself.

Returning to silence, Kirche watched and waited for the commoner soldiers to arrive. If either the princess or the others were saying anything, she couldn't hear a word of it. While there were spells to amplify what people were saying, they weren't as useful from this far out. Not to mention the fact that using such a spell ran the risk of them getting detected. The only thing worse than getting caught while on the mission was getting caught before the mission started. Both meant getting punished, but it was the difference between detention or even expulsion and outright imprisonment for espionage. Of course, that was still a distinct possibility if and when they got caught once they left, but Kirche believed she'd be able to talk them out of it. Hopefully.

"I just want to say, this is still a terrible idea," Kirche spoke up, resting her head on her propped-up hand on the windowsill.

"Then stay behind," Tabitha once again offered, only for Kirche to shake her head.

"You know I won't do that. Besides, without me you're not getting in," Kirche pointed out.

Their plan, on the surface, was simple. Once the commoner soldiers arrived, she and Tabitha would spend the next two days staking them out for personal targets. Using the sleeping potions Kirche had been receiving and hoarding from their classmate Montmorency, along with her own personal charm, they'd drug three of the commoners and use a disguise potion that Tabitha had already brewed. The only ingredient left was a few strands of hair, saliva, or anything else of that nature to make the potion turn herself, Tabitha, and Sylphid into perfect physical duplicates. They'd then take their targets' places in the rescue party, and disembark to wherever it was that Louise summoned herself to. Admittedly, Kirche didn't have much of a plan as to what would happen after that, other than rescuing Louise and using her extensive interpersonal skills to get as light of a punishment as possible, but at least it would get them there.

"I still don't quite understand exactly where it is that we're going," Kirche admitted with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, if I didn't know any better, it sounded like this 'portal' that the Pope is cooking up is taking us to another world. They keep talking about it like it is, at least."

"It's probably just hyperbole," Tabitha said, but there was a slight twinge in her voice that suggested she was equally unsure. Turning another page in her book, Tabitha continued, "There are some who think that on the other side of Oceanus there might be another continent, completely isolated from ours, Kemet, the Holy Land, and the Orient. If that is true, perhaps Louise summoned herself there. From our perspective, it might as well be another world."

"Assuming, of course, there even is a continent over there. Personally, I think it's just a big body of water and if we keep sailing west, eventually we'll reach the Orient. Just have to get past the elven blockades and the sea monsters, which isn't going to happen," Kirche dismissed. "But that isn't really important right now."

"No, it's not," Tabitha agreed, peeking up at Kirche from over the top edge of her book.

"What is important," Kirche continued, "is that we don't know where we're going. Frankly, I don't think they do either. Have I mentioned this is a terrible plan?"

"About a dozen times today alone," Tabitha immediately answered.

"Oh good, was afraid I wasn't getting it across because, again, this is a terrible idea," Kirche declared, then let out a groan. Knowing that they were in too deep to back out now, especially with the rescue set to begin in just three days, Kirche tried to focus on what they needed to do next.

In addition to what they needed just to take their spots in the rescue party, Kirche and Tabitha had also started covertly stockpiling any supplies they could carry. Food, water, potions, the essentials. The way Kirche figured, the more useful they made themselves out to be, the greater their chances of getting off light. Besides, they didn't know what awaited them in this 'new world,' so it was just better for them overall to be as prepared as possible. To that end, both students made a conscious effort to expend as little magic as possible during their classes, which had finally been resumed. Just enough to handle any classroom demonstrations, but not enough to significantly affect their willpower reserves.

All in all, despite everything, Kirche was optimistic that they were in as good of a position as they possibly could be. From what Kirche could tell, Tabitha wasn't as optimistic as Kirche was, but was fairly confident in their chances. Letting out a small smile, Kirche rubbed the top of Flame's head, only to hear a faint whimper. Quickly turning her head, she saw Sylphid looking at the princess' group with nervous eyes, her body tucked in on itself.

"What's wrong, Sylphid?" Kirche asked in concern. Her question prompted Tabitha to stop reading her book, and Sylphid to flinch.

"Um, Sylphid is fine," Sylphid replied, but neither mage believed her in the slightest. Withering under their combined stares, Sylphid recoiled again, then hung her head. A heavy pause filled the stable, then Sylphid quietly admitted, "Big sister, sister's friend…Sylphid is scared."

"You're scared? Why?" Kirche questioned in a soft tone, and Sylphid looked at her.

"Sylphid don't know," the rhyme dragon revealed, then shuddered. "Sylphid don't know why she is scared, but…she keeps having feeling that something is wrong. Feeling gotten stronger as we get closer to leaving."

"Ah, I see," Kirche said with a slow nod. Despite being a powerful and intelligent dragon, Sylphid or Irukukwu was still effectively a child.

"Sorry," Sylphid quietly apologized, but Kirche shook her head.

"You don't need to apologize, Sylphid," Kirche told her. "I get it. It's perfectly understandable to be scared. We're going to an unknown place, and we don't know what's waiting for us there. Honestly, I'm scared too. So is Tabitha."

Tabitha didn't openly respond besides a curt nod of agreement. Kirche took her response and rolled with it, then continued, "Yes, this entire thing is scary, but you don't need to worry. Everyone has prepared as best as they can in order to ensure the plan goes off without a hitch."

"But…what if something go wrong?" Sylphid nervously asked. "What if new place more dangerous than we thought?"

"Then we'll take care of it," Kirche stated. "Tabitha and I are both really strong. We also have some of the best mages in the entire kingdom coming with us, and I bet the plebians aren't any slouches either. I doubt there's much of anything that we could run into over there that could give us trouble. Besides an elf, but it doesn't sound like we're going anywhere near the Holy Land, so we should be fine."

Getting up to pat Sylphid on the head, Kirche declared with a smile on her face, "Don't worry, Sylphid. I know this is scary and really, really, really stupid, but we're going to be fine. Honestly, what's the worst that we could run into?"

---

September 25th, 1998, 1:30 PM

Raccoon City, Arklay County, United States of America

Saito swung his baseball bat as hard as he could into the head of a zombified girl who appeared to have been around his age. The zombie staggered back, its head partially caved in and oozing blood, yet still standing. Letting out a hungry, raspy snarl through a broken jaw, the zombie shambled towards Saito, its arms outstretched. Without an ounce of hesitation, Saito followed up with more swings, first to the knee which broke easily. The zombie's legs fell out from under it, sending it crashing onto the ground and allowing Louise, holding a lead pipe with a pointed end, to finish it off with a stab into its face. It twitched for a few moments as blood pooled around its head, then it finally went still.

Grimacing at the macabre display, Louise pulled the pipe out with a wet squelch. Her improvised weapon was covered in gore, and had pierced the zombie's skull enough to where she could see right through to the other side. Before, she might've felt the urge to hurl, to empty the contents of her stomach at the sight of such violent death, but she had long since passed that. The sight still sickened and horrified her, and Saito as well, but they didn't have time to focus on it. Especially as they heard moans of more zombies nearby, telling them they had to leave.

Sparing only a single glance at Saito, the two of them ran off further down the street. Crashed cars and overturned light poles littered the ground and formed a maze, which itself was slightly flooded after a truck had crashed into a fire hydrant the night before. With no one to shut the water off, it continued to expel upwards like a geyser, and the driver himself hung halfway through the driver-side window. His skin was deathly grey, and his neck was bloodied from a noticeable wound. As Saito and Louise drew closer, trying to get around a wall of cars, the man's body suddenly twitched back to life as it snarled and reached for them.

Startled, Saito jumped back and raised his baseball bat protectively. The zombie continued trying to get to them, but it was trapped inside by the remains of the seatbelt. Without the cognitive functions to unlatch it, both teenagers knew it wasn't getting to them anytime soon. The same couldn't be said for the other zombies nearby, who were continuing to advance towards them like starving beasts.

Picking up the pace again, the two of them ran off, not stopping to fight any of the zombies in favor of avoiding them as much as possible. If one got too close and they weren't able to get away from it, then they would dispatch the zombie quickly before running off. It had become a routine by this point, and in fact Louise hadn't even raised her revolver or wand since they left Samantha's apartment earlier that morning. Neither had Saito, although he had the excuse of not having any ammunition to fire in the first place.

"Through here!" Saito called out, pointing towards a side alley they were running towards.

Nodding in agreement, Louise followed him, only to stop as they noticed a small group of zombies huddled over a corpse. Hearing their arrival, the zombies stopped and slowly turned their heads and bodies to stare at them, mouths dripping with dark red blood and their eyes milky and pasted over.

Without missing a beat, Saito and Louise turned around and ran off. Behind them, the zombies abandoned their meal and shambled after them, quickly falling behind while other zombies came at them from the sides. It seemed as though, everywhere they went, there were more zombies waiting to emerge from the shadows. Even if an area seemed clear at first, it wouldn't be long before its sanctity was violated as the roaming hordes of undead converged onto it. That's why Saito and Louise kept moving, only stopping to rest for brief intervals whenever they had the time, which wasn't often.

As they rushed down the street, a zombie emerged from between two cars and managed to latch onto Saito's shoulders. He shouted, "Shit!" as he struggled to push the zombie off of him, but its grip was too strong. As the zombie opened its mouth and moved to clamp down on Saito's neck, Louise suddenly thrust the tip of her pipe into the side of the zombie's head with enough force to completely pierce through both sides of the skull. Blood and brain matter leaked out of both ends of the pipe, and the zombie collapsed onto Saito who quickly pushed it off. A smear of blood trailed down his hoodie as the body fell, and he had to kick the corpse off his feet, but otherwise he was fine. Saito gave Louise a thankful look, who nodded back before trying to pull the pipe out of the zombie's skull. Unfortunately, as she gripped the lead pipe tightly and pulled, she found it wouldn't budge.

"Come on, come on!" Louise grunted in frustration. Try as she might, the pipe just wouldn't shift. She tried planting her foot on the zombie's body for leverage and gripping one end with both hands, but that didn't do anything either. In fact, the pipe was so slick with fluids that her hands nearly slipped off.

"Damn it!" she cursed, then backed away while wiping her hands on her jacket. "I can't get it loose."

"Here, I'll—" Saito started, preparing to hand Louise his baseball bat to pull the pipe out himself. But, as he moved to do so, they heard a chorus of moans getting closer. Shooting their heads to the side, they saw several zombies coming towards them, falling over crashed cars then getting right back up.

Realizing they didn't have time to pull the pipe out, they were forced to leave it behind as the two teenagers turned and ran for their lives. Refusing to look back, they continued to run, kicking up water as they did. Unfortunately, the sound of the splashing served only to attract more of the undead who converged on them from all sides. Ahead, they saw about a dozen zombies aimlessly walking about, not particularly doing anything, but it was obvious to Saito and Louise that as soon as they got near they would come rushing over for dinner.

Realizing that they had to get out of the street, Saito and Louise looked around. Then, off to the side, Louise pointed out an Arklay Sporting Goods store, its name plastered onto the side of a large building with a smiling, cartoonish raccoon waving at them. Knowing that it was their best chance for even a momentary reprieve, they adjusted their course and ran straight towards the entrance. The power was off, so the automatic doors didn't open, but Saito and Louise were able to pry them apart easily. Slipping inside through the narrow gap, they closed the doors behind them, then Louise quickly cast a locking spell to seal the zombies out. They backed up, Saito's grip on his baseball bat tightening as the zombies banged their bodies against the glass. Aside from dull thuds and reverberations, it held.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Saito turned to Louise and said, "Come on, that's not going to hold them forever. We should be able to slip out back."

"Alright," Louise replied. They turned around and prepared to leave, then stopped as they looked over the store. It looked practically deserted, its shelves half empty and most of its contents laying about on the floor. Clearly this place had been ransacked by desperate survivors looking for supplies, but it looked as though not everything was taken.

Her interest piqued, Louise suggested, "Shouldn't we check this place out first? There might be something we could find."

"I think anything useful would've already been taken by now," Saito pointed out, his head swiveling as they moved away from the front doors.

"Maybe," Louise admitted, "but it wouldn't hurt to check."

Saito looked at her for a moment, then nodded in agreement before saying, "Alright, but we can't stay for long. Only grab what we need."

Louise nodded, having already decided on that, then they moved deeper into the store. There were a few zombies already inside, mindlessly walking around or banging their bodies against the walls. As before, Saito and Louise tried their best to avoid them whenever possible. Spotting the hunting section quickly, both teenagers made a beeline towards it. They were greeted by a pair of zombies, but Saito was able to dispatch both with a few swings to their knees and heads.

"I'm noticing that taking out their knees first seems to work best," Louise couldn't help but point out as Saito finished reducing the second zombie's head to paste.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," Saito admitted, breathing heavily while sweat trickled down his brow. With no air conditioning, the store was uncomfortably hot. "They just get knocked to the ground and can't really do anything. They're much less dangerous when all they can do is just crawl around."

"Might be a good idea to just do that instead of always going for the kill," Louise suggested. Saito thought it over for a moment, the nodded.

"Maybe, especially if we're in a rush," Saito agreed. "I'd feel safer if they were dead, though."

"As would I," Louise replied with a nod of her own.

Keeping her wand out, Louise began to browse the aisles around her. Most of it was cleared of anything that could be useful, especially the guns. What once were entire shelves of hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols and more were broken open, leaving behind only the shattered glass as the guns were seized by whoever came before. Even the knives were taken. She heard Saito let out a curse as he glared at a shattered, empty display case titled "AR-15."

"Dammit. A rifle would be really useful right about now," Saito grumbled, then sighed and shook his head.

Although Louise couldn't pretend to know nearly as much about firearms as her friend did, she knew enough to agree. Honestly, any gun would be useful for them. All they had were the ten .38 Special rounds for her recovered Model 36 revolver, which would run out quickly.

Realizing that finding an actual gun wasn't going to happen, Louise settled for trying to find the next best thing: actual ammunition. Scouring through the mostly stripped store shelves, Louise eventually found a box of Red Hawk 9mm bullets. From what she could tell, it was the only thing left untouched, on this aisle at least.

"Saito, I found some bullets for you," Louise called out. Saito, who was holding a hunting crossbow in his hands, immediately placed the weapon down before coming over. Louise held out the box of ammunition, and Saito's face brightened as he pulled out his pistol.

"Perfect," Saito said, taking the box before laying both of his empty magazines onto the nearest flat surface. As he began to push the rounds into the magazines themselves, he added, "Cover me. This might take a bit."

Louise nodded, then stepped in front of Saito to protect him. Keeping her wand clenched in front of her, Louise watched carefully for any signs of zombies. She could certainly hear them, faint moans that echoed across the store along with the occasional thud as they banged their bodies against something. From the front of the store, they continued to hear the zombies slam against the glass, which so far was still holding. There was no telling, though, how much longer that would last, and the sooner they got out of there the better.

Seeing as there was nothing immediately threatening nearby, Louise allowed her eyes to wander a bit. They were drawn immediately to a few holsters that were hung up on racks, some larger than others. Looking at her revolver, which was currently being held in the right pocket of her jeans, Louise raised an eyebrow slightly as an idea came to her. While they could just keep carrying their handguns in their pockets, doing so was clumsy and came with the risk of accidentally shooting themselves. Having an actual holster would make things easier and safer for them.

Slowly, trying not to make any noise, she made her way towards the holsters and grabbed a few. She also pulled out her revolver, then began to compare sizes. Most were either too big or too small, but eventually one of them ended up being the right size. Silently pumping her fist in victory, Louise quickly strapped the holster to her thigh using one of the loops meant for a belt. She then tested it out by placing her revolver into it. To her relief, she found that it worked smoothly.

Looking through the rest to find one that best matched the Browning, Louise quickly grabbed it before sliding it over to Saito. He had just finished loading the first magazine and was about to start loading the second when the leather object bumped into his hand. For a brief moment, he picked the holster up and regarded it, then his eyes widened in realization. Saito quickly checked to make sure that his pistol would fit by sliding it in, and once he found that it did he attached the leather holster to his thigh as well.

"Thanks," he said, and Louise nodded in acknowledgement before going back to keeping watch.

"Oh, no," Louise muttered, noticing that a zombie had wandered over. The zombie was a middle-aged bald man wearing a black golf shirt with the Arklay Sporting Goods logo on its chest and long khaki pants, with a lanyard draped around its neck. Hanging at the end of the laminated lanyard was a nametag, but the print was too smudged with blood and grime, making it impossible for Louise to make out.

Realizing that it had noticed her and was beginning to shamble over, releasing faint groans with each limping step, Louise aimed her wand at it. A spell came to the tip of her tongue, but then she stopped herself. The last time she cast an explosion, it brought forth an entire horde of zombies that nearly drowned them. Were it not for the timely arrival of Umbrella's mercenaries, she and Saito would be dead or worse. While there weren't nearly as many zombies in the store as on the outside, it still wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

Glancing over at the discarded crossbow, Louise quickly grabbed it. Luckily for her, it was already nocked back, so all she had to do was place a bolt on its top. Aiming at the zombie's head, she steadied herself as best she could then pulled the trigger. The strings were released with a reverberating twang, and the bolt soared through the air and skewered the zombie right in the eye. It leaned and staggered back, nearly falling over, but to her dismay it remained standing. Despite the large crossbow bolt sticking out of its head like a flag, the zombie moaned again before shambling towards her.

"Shit, shit!" Louise grunted. Grabbing a nearby bolt, she tried to pull the bowstring back so she could load it. Unfortunately, despite throwing everything she had into it, the string barely budged. Louise simply didn't have the upper body strength to draw it back. She doubted Saito did either, as it looked like someone else had loaded the crossbow before they arrived, perhaps even one of the two zombies they had just killed.

With the zombie getting closer, and Saito still busy loading his gun albeit at a quickened pace, Louise pulled out her revolver and took aim. Having never held a gun, it was shaky in her hands, with the sights swaying all over the place. She was half tempted to fall back and wait for Saito to finish, and let him handle the zombie. But, then she realized that she couldn't be dependent on him whenever something like this happened. There was no telling how long they would be in Raccoon City before they managed to get out, and it was no guarantee that Saito would always be able to protect her. Sometimes, much like now, she might have to be the one to protect him. With only one zombie nearby, Louise realized this was a perfect opportunity to get some much needed practice in.

"Sorry," Louise muttered as she used her thumb to pull the hammer back. Beside her, she heard Saito finish loading his pistol and chamber a round as he rushed over, but Louise didn't focus on that. Instead, she took a breath and stayed as still as she possibly could, then pulled the trigger.

The gun kicked up in her hands. Unused to the recoil, the shot went wild, impacting harmlessly against a nearby shelf. Her gun was nearly ripped from her hands, and her ears rang, but she was able to keep a grip. Refocusing herself, she carefully aimed again at the zombie while taking a step back. Saito kept his pistol on the zombie's head as well, but he didn't take a shot after Louise shook her head at him. He hesitated for a moment before giving a supportive nod, allowing Louise to take another shot.

Pulling back the hammer again, Louise fired her second bullet in her entire life. This time, knowing what to expect, she was able to keep a much better grip on the revolver, and the bullet itself impacted against the zombie's chest where the heart would be. Normally a fatal injury, the zombie kept coming, forcing Louise to take another step back. Scowling deeply, Louise steadied her aim and pulled the hammer back once more, then fired her third shot. This time, the bullet went straight through the other eye, and only then did the zombie finally collapse onto the ground.

Releasing a breath, Louise stared at the zombie as blood poured out onto the tile floor. She flinched slightly when Saito placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look at him. Saito gave her a supportive nod, which she returned before looking back at the bolt still embedded into the zombie's skull.

"Saito," Louise asked, tilting her head towards the crossbow, "do you think you'll be able to use that?"

Glancing at the discarded weapon, Saito holstered his pistol and picked it up. Gripping the string, Saito pulled as hard as he could, but just like her it barely budged. His skin flushed red from exertion, and to his credit the bowstring did get pulled back further than Louise's own attempts. But it wasn't enough, and he released a breath as he relaxed the string.

"No, I can't," Saito declared, dropping the crossbow onto the ground. Looking down on it, he added, "Maybe if I braced it against the ground with my feet, but I still don't think that'll be fast enough. Especially if there's a bunch of zombies around."

Louise nodded, then stated, "Yeah. Quiet, though."

Saito nodded in agreement as well. It was clear to both of them that, if either he or she were strong enough to use the crossbow, they would take it in a heartbeat. They wouldn't have to worry about ammo, as they could just recover the bolts from the zombies themselves after they killed them. While some zombies, much like this one, might take more than one bolt to put them down, the same was true with the guns they were currently using. Against single targets, it would've been perfect, especially if they didn't want to attract any attention. But, at the end of the day it was a simple matter of strength and ease of use. Anyone could pick up a gun and use it reasonably well, as Louise and Saito themselves proved, while a crossbow required a lot more upper body strength than either of them had.

Looking at each other again, Saito and Louise prepared to search more of the store. Then they heard the glass holding back the zombies from outside shatter, allowing the accumulated horrors to break in, even as the other zombies that were already inside started converging on the sound of Louise's gunshots. Realizing that their time was up, Saito and Louise ran off, not bothering to search anything else as they threw open the back door, allowing them to enter the back alleyway. Louise locked the door behind them, and together they ran off deeper into the city.

---

5:42 PM

With the sun dipping lower into the sky, Saito and Louise continued to make their way through the city. It had been several hours of nearly nonstop movement, and both were tired. But, without a safe place to hunker down, they could only afford quick pitstops that lasted at most ten minutes before they had to move again. The number of zombies remained consistently high, although some areas had few enough to where Saito and Louise were able to clear them out safely. At the moment, they were currently taking a momentary respite in a small restaurant, the door barred from opening with a large barrel the two of them had pushed in place.

Taking a bite from a sandwich they made before they left Samantha's apartment along with a drink of water from a bottle, Louise kept her eyes peeled while her Model 36 laid on the table beside her. Saito, meanwhile, ate his own sandwich as he continued to load bullets into his magazine.

Louise glanced at Saito as he worked, then asked, "Is loading your magazines difficult?"

"Honestly, not really," Saito admitted, pushing a bullet in before repeating the action with another. "Just takes a bit of practice. God knows I've gotten plenty of that in the past few hours."

She nodded in agreement. Their progress had been painstakingly slow as they tried to avoid the zombies, mostly by dipping into buildings rather than rushing across the street. As they did, the two of them took the time to quickly search for anything they could use, along with dispatching any zombies that happened to be inside. The ten rounds that Louise originally started with had already been used, even with her stretching them out with frugal uses of her explosions, but luckily she and Saito both had managed to find spare ammunition multiple times. It was as he said, both the .38 Special for her Smith & Wesson and the 9mm for Saito's Browning were extremely popular. So long as they kept an eye out for them, and used their ammo conservatively, they should be able to avoid running out.

At the moment, Louise had twenty-five rounds for her revolver, while Saito had managed to recover forty. But, as Saito started loading his second thirteen-round magazine, another issue once again popped up. Since Louise was using a five-cylinder revolver, all she had to do was eject the spent rounds before sliding fresh ones back in one at a time. It was a cumbersome process, one that she had messed up quite a few times by accidentally dropping a bullet while trying to slide it in, but she was beginning to get the hang of it. Saito, however, didn't have such a luxury. While he had forty rounds, he only had two magazines to use them. If he used both magazines, he would have to take the time to push new rounds into them. Functionally, he could only use twenty-six in any given fight.

"Do you think it might be a good idea to change your pistol for something like mine?" Louise suggested just as Saito finished loading his second magazine.

"Maybe," he admitted, slotting a magazine into his weapon before pulling the slide back, chambering a round. Saito then carefully placed his pistol on the table in front of him, making sure to keep the barrel pointed away from Louise, before continuing, "But there's no guarantee we even could find another gun in the first place, much less ammo for it. I might be able to find a revolver that can use the 9mm bullets I already have, but most of them require moon clips just to hold the cartridges, and those will be easy to lose. Besides, I like being able to fire thirteen times before having to reload, and doing so is pretty easy with a magazine. Unless you find a few speed loaders, you'd have to reload your revolver one bullet at a time, and you can only fire five shots before having to reload in the first place."

"Right, right," Louise muttered and nodded. Glancing at her own revolver, Louise figured that there were advantages and disadvantages to both style of pistols. A revolver was perfect for her, but for Saito could get more out of a semi-automatic pistol like the Browning.

Releasing a grunt, Louise said, "We should probably find you some more magazines, then."

"Yep," Saito said, then finished drinking his water before getting up. Beckoning towards the backdoor with a sharp tilt of his head, he began walking away. Louise quickly finished her meal as well, then took her revolver in her hand before following him.

Quietly opening the back door then closing it, they stepped out into the back alley. Louise wasn't quite certain where they were, but every so often Saito would find something he recognized to collect his bearings. At the moment, they were still searching for a vehicle to drive out of the city in, but unfortunately her magic wasn't enough to start a car's engine. It was far too complicated, and she wasn't comfortable enough to try in the first place and risk accidentally blowing it up. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find any car keys either, meaning they were stuck simply trying to find a needle in a haystack. Perhaps if she was an earth mage she could simply make a key for any car they wanted, but that was never going to be an option.

Reaching the end of an alleyway, Louise and Saito stopped to carefully look out for any signs of danger. There were several zombies shambling about, but there was a relatively clear path to another alley on the opposite side of the street. What's more, a tall, chain-link fence had been erected by the RPD which blocked one side of the street off entirely, preventing any zombies from getting through for the time being.

"Come on," Saito said, holding his baseball bat at the ready. Slowly, the two teenagers crossed the street, Louise keeping her revolver trained on any nearby zombies. A few noticed their presence and tried to lunge at them, but they were able to keep themselves away and keep going.

Soon, they managed to enter the alleyway, where they took off in a crisp jog to escape the zombies coming in behind them. As they turned a corner, however, they noticed a small group of four zombies blocking off the other end. The zombies quickly noticed their presence and each moaned animalistically before shambling towards them, dragging their feet behind them on the ground.

"Shit," Saito cursed, then pinned his baseball bat under his arm before pulling out his Browning.

Taking aim at the nearest zombie, he slowly began to fire. Louise did as well, although her shots weren't nearly as accurate as his. After firing five times, helping Saito to put down two of the zombies, Louise stopped to swing out her gun's rotating cylinder and eject the spent casings. While keeping an eye on the two still advancing zombies, which Saito was able to cut down one more of before having to switch to his baseball bat as the last drew too close, Louise inserted five new rounds one by one. By the time she was finished and pushed the cylinder back into place, Saito had finished the final zombie off.

Behind them, they heard more zombies coming up, and so both teenagers ran. Coming out onto another street, this one blocked off on one side by erected fences and barricades, they quickly stopped and recoiled as they beheld the utter devastation around them. While one side of the street had a still intact barricade, the other only had the crushed and toppled scraps of fences, along with the half-eaten bodies of those who had been taking shelter behind them.

"Jesus…" Saito grimaced as he looked over the grisly scene, trying to understand what had happened.

His eyes first went to the police cars, their lights still flashing but their tires punctured with bullets. An armored car was beside it, but the front was crushed by a large school bus that had apparently crashed through the fence. Laying on the ground were the ripped apart remains of police officers and the people he had to assume they were trying to evacuate. Bullet casings and shells were everywhere, but no guns themselves. Someone else must've come through and recovered them.

Releasing a sigh, Saito shook his head as he figured what occurred. Sometime during the night, the RPD was trying to evacuate a group of people to safety, only for a bus to lose control and crash through their barricades. Using the freshly made hole, the zombie horde descended onto them, leading to a gruesome end. A few zombies were still feasting on the intact corpses, one of which was a police officer themselves, but they hadn't noticed them yet.

It was then that Saito noticed the police zombie still had a pistol carried in his holster. Looking at his own gun and the fact he only had two magazines of his own, Saito steeled himself then walked forward.

"Saito, what are you doing?" Louise asked while following him.

"Getting his gun, or at least his magazine," Saito admitted, pointing at the zombie in question. Pulling out his pistol, Saito handed his baseball bat to Louise then took aim. The zombie noticed him and released a snarl, only for Saito to put two rounds into its head. It fell to the ground, and the slide of Saito's gun remained back, telling him it was empty.

Without bothering to reload, Saito rushed over to the dead officer and began trying to pull the weapon out of its holster. It was proving more difficult than he imagined, but he was determined to see it through.

"Saito, they're getting closer!" Louise called out, holding out her revolver in one hand as she alternated between targets.

"Almost…got it…" Saito grunted as he felt the holster loosen, then it finally opened with a pop. "Yes!"

He pulled out the officer's handgun as fast as he could. As he suspected, it was another Browning Hi-Power, and he ejected the full magazine. Reloading his own weapon with it, Saito discarded the extra copy of a gun he already had, and didn't have space for even if he wanted it, and grabbed Louise by the arm before pulling her way. They shot through a gap in the zombies as fast as they could, where cold fingers managed to grace just by their backs. Rushing through yet another alley, they left the zombies behind without looking back. Part of Saito felt guilty over looting a former officer's corpse like that, but the rest of him was trying to be pragmatic. As Louise said, he needed to find more magazines to use his weapon effectively, and now he could reload three times before running out of ammunition. As unsettling as it was, Saito knew he'd have to find more, and looting police officers seemed like it would be the best bet.

Pausing briefly to catch their breath, Saito holstered his pistol before taking the bat back from Louise. As he did, Louise said, "We really need to find you something to hold that in."

"I know. Next backpack we find is mine," Saito said with a firm nod.

While they had experimented with simply keeping Saito's bat in Louise's backpack when not in use, they quickly found a problem. If Saito needed the bat quickly, he'd have to pull it off of Louise's back. In a chaotic situation, that proved easier said than done. While not the most comfortable or practical, he found it easier for him to hold the bat himself, or quickly hand it over to Louise whenever the situation called for it. She had actually managed to take down a few zombies of her own with it, but that raised another problem. Already a few noticeable dents had formed in the bat's head. It simply wasn't built to be used like this. Eventually, it would break down. Until it got to that point, Saito would keep using it, but now he had to keep an eye out for a new melee weapon to protect himself with.

"I'm good," Louise said, straightening herself. Looking at her, Saito nodded, then they began to make their way down the alley once again. Seeing a pawnshop once they exited the alley, they went straight towards it. The door was locked, the windows sealed by a metal fence from the inside, but Louise was able to unlock it with a quick cantrip, granting them entry. Closing the door behind them, she locked it again before the two of them began to inspect what the store had.

"Yes, knives!" Saito announced, pointing towards a glass display case. Inside were a collection of impressive knives, axes, and more, which Saito immediately broke open with his bat. The glass shattered in a single blow, then he carefully began to fish out something for him to use. Louise joined him, and soon pulled something out for each of them.

Saito was holding an antique ka-bar knife in his hand, closely inspecting it while feeling the blade itself with a ginger finger. Grabbing a nearby piece of paper, Saito tested the knife by slicing through it. To his relief, he found it was still quite sharp. Using a leather sheathe that was nearby, he carefully slotted the knife into it, then strapped it to his left thigh. Louise, meanwhile, gravitated towards a small hatchet with a black wooden handle and rubber grips. There was a hammer on the backside of the steel head, and it was small enough to be held in just one hand. Giving it a few practice swings, she found it suitable enough for her, then grabbed a sheath of her own and slotted it in. Looping the sheath around her waist, the small handle bumped against her leg with each step, but it wasn't anything more than a minor nuisance.

They looked around the store for a bit longer, trying to find anything else that they could use. All they could find was an old army backpack in drab olive green, which Saito quickly took for himself and emptied the contents of his nylon pack into it. Dropping the bag on the ground, he threw the straps over his shoulder, and slightly opened the top to slide his bat into it. He thought about discarding the bat entirely, since he now had an actual knife to protect himself, but he figured it was still good to use as a primary melee weapon as it had more reach and strength behind it. If he was close enough to attack a zombie with a knife, then it was also close enough to bite him.

They also found a few more bullets for their guns, enough to load Saito's empty magazine and let Louise reload her weapon twice, along with four twelve-gauge shotgun shells. While they hadn't found a shotgun yet, Saito fully intended to use one if they did. Everyone knew shotguns were the perfect weapons to use against zombies in movies and video games, and he doubted real life would be any different.

Looting the store for everything they could, Saito and Louise left through the back door. A pair of zombies were waiting for them, but before they could react Saito stabbed one through the side of the head with his knife while Louise chopped another in the head with her hatchet. They fell to the ground, and both teenagers ran off without even checking to make sure they were actually dead.

The sun continued to stretch below the horizon, and the sky began to turn bright orange as twilight settled in. Continuing to run through back alleys, houses, and streets, Saito and Louise tried to find something to escape with. But, to their dismay, they couldn't find anything. Most of the cars they found that appeared to still be in working condition didn't have any keys already inside. Those that did either didn't have any gas in their tanks, after being left on idle for who knows how long, or their batteries were dead. Only a handful could've been used, but they were pinned in place by other cars, trucks, or debris, making them impossible to get it out by themselves.

"Dammit," Saito cursed as he hopped out of yet another bust. Looking up at the twilight sky, he said, "We need to find some place to stay the night. Dealing with zombies is hard enough when we can see."

Louise nodded in agreement. Trying to escape the city at night seemed like a recipe for disaster, especially after what they went through the last time they tried. At the same time, she was also tired, and hunkering down for the night seemed like a good idea. She couldn't see anything around them that looked relatively safe, though, so it might take a while before they found one. Nodding to herself, Louise prepared to set off once again with Saito joining her, only for them to stop as they heard a faint crunch coming from nearby. It sounded like a foot stepping on glass, and the entire street seemed to fall silent. Her eyes widened, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose.

"Run," Saito muttered.

Without saying another word, both of them took off in a sprint. Behind them, they heard a flurry of rapid footsteps giving chase, telling them exactly who was after them. A few gunshots rang out, rubber bullets bouncing off the walls and ground to hit them. Each impact made them gasp in pain and nearly stumble a few times, but they powered through it.

"Stop, now!" they heard one of Umbrella's mercenaries shout. The voice sounded deep and booming, telling them it was most likely the heavily armored man carrying the shotgun.

"Fuck you!" Saito yelled, briefly turning around and firing a few shots of his pistol at them. Louise did so as well, both trying their best to maintain their momentum while running backwards.

"Shit!" another mercenary cursed, diving behind cover to avoid the hail of gunfire. The other Umbrella mercenaries took cover as well, only for SPECTRE to begin firing shots of his own at Saito and Louise from up high. The rubber bullets struck Saito in the chest and he gasped in pain, yet with Louise's help was able to stay on his feet and keep running. A few more bullets were fired at him, but this time they harmlessly impacted his backpack, cushioning the blows.

"After them! VECTOR, head them off! SPECTRE, keep your eyes on them!" LUPO ordered while keeping up the chase. "We are not losing Subject Zero again!"

"Acknowledged," VECTOR replied, then broke off and ran to the side.

Ahead of them, Saito and Louise sprinted as fast as they possibly could, Umbrella's mercenaries hot on their tails. Every so often, they would briefly fire a few shots at them, as well as Louise casting a few explosive spells, but otherwise they refused to cease moving. Trying to get into an actual fight with highly-trained soldiers was foolish; they had absolutely no chance of winning. At the same time, the mercenaries were firing much more often than last time, wanting to put them down and secure Louise as quickly as possible. Given how deep they were in the city, it appeared that capturing her unharmed was no longer on the table.

Her heart thundering in her chest, Louise continued to sprint, moving in a slight serpentine fashion to throw the mercenaries' aim off. Saito was as well, his hand tightly gripped onto his pistol. Ahead of them, they heard faint gunshots, but they didn't know from who. Before, they might've tried to move away from them, but at the moment they were far more focused on the people behind them.

Crossing into a street, Louise and Saito noticed a small horde of zombies moving about. An idea came to her, and she quickly cast an explosion near the front of the mercenaries. She didn't care that she missed, all she wanted was for the loud explosion to catch the zombies' attention.

"Oh, you bitch!" BELTWAY shouted as Louise's plan worked. Like the ringing of a dinner bell, the zombies moved towards the mercenaries, forcing them to momentarily stop their pursuit of Louise in favor of protecting themselves. Louise followed it up with more explosions, attracting even more zombies that quickly cut the Umbrella operators off.

"Good thinking, Louise!" Saito congratulated her as they continued to run, and a proud smile blossomed across her face.

That smile didn't last long, however, as suddenly VECTOR emerged from a side door, kicking it open and cutting them off. Saito was unable to stop his momentum, allowing VECTOR to grapple him, lift the boy up, then slam him back onto the ground. Louise, meanwhile, was flung hard to the ground after the mercenary tripped her with an extended leg. The air briefly pushed out of his lungs, Saito desperately threw punches in an effort to get the man off of him, but VECTOR's face mask meant the only damage Saito dealt was to himself.

Then Louise, pushing herself off the ground, pulled out her revolver and fired point-blank into the side of VECTOR's helmet. Her rounds weren't high enough caliber to puncture through, but it was enough to send the mercenary rearing back.

"Fuck!" VECTOR shouted, falling backwards while rolling to cover. With the man's weight no longer pressing down onto him, Saito aimed his Browning and fired as well, forcing the mercenary to fall back.

"Come on!" Louise yelled, picking Saito up. The two teenagers turned and ran, Louise hastily reloading her revolver as she did. Behind them, they heard the mercenaries finish the rest of the zombies off and begin chasing them once again.

Ahead, they heard more gunfire, this time louder and much more concentrated. It sounded as though several automatic weapons were being fired. At first, Saito and Louise feared they were running straight towards another group of Umbrella mercenaries, then they noticed that their pursuers were picking up the pace. Whoever was firing those guns, it was motivating them to capture them even faster, before they got to them. Realizing that might just save them, Louise cast a few more explosions to attract more zombies, neither she nor Saito stopping for anything. Wolfpack was forced to engage, allowing the two teenagers to increase the gap between them.

Dashing into an alleyway, they followed the intense sound of gunfire. It echoed across the brick alleys, making it hard to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but soon they were able to get a read. Running for their lives, they burst out onto an open street, one end blocked off by a hastily erected wall of metal and a Stagla gas station as the area's center piece, only for a burst of gunfire to go off right over their heads.

"Gagh!" Saito and Louise yelled, tripping and falling onto the ground.

"Hold your fire, hold your fire! Civilians!" they heard a man's voice shout, then several people rush over. Looking up, Louise and Saito saw six men and women wearing tan army fatigues, all heavily armed with rifles, shotguns, and even an LMG. On their shoulders was a patch depicting a stylized skull, with the words "Spec Ops – Echo Six" written on its top and bottom.

"Oh, thank God! Special forces!" Saito said, getting up just as the soldiers got to them. The biggest of the soldiers, a heavyset man with tattoos covering his arms and part of his face, was the first one, immediately pulling out medical supplies from a pouch on his leg.

"Are you two injured?" the man asked, shining a light to inspect their bruises. He grimaced at the sight of them, then pulled out a can of medical spray and began to apply it. Both Saito and Louise sighed in relief as the medicine took hold, their wounds quickly fading away.

"Fan out, secure the perimeter!" commanded the apparent leader of the team, a man with short, slightly spiked brown hair and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. In his hands was a highly customized M4 Carbine, which he was aiming down the alleyway Saito and Louise came from.

The other members of the spec ops team complied with the order, surrounding the two teenagers and protecting them while their medic worked. With no danger immediately apparent, Saito and Louise took the time to look at all of them. Unlike Umbrella's mercenaries, they were able to clearly see the soldiers' faces. Besides the leader and medic, they were joined by a tall, bald black man with scientific equipment carried in his backpack and mounted on harnesses. The thing that caught their attention the most was a biohazard containment case strapped to his hip.

He was flanked by a woman with slightly olive skin, her long brown hair tied back in a pony tail. Unlike the others, her uniform was greener in tone, covered in a digital camouflage pattern. On her back was a radio transceiver, and a large knife strapped to her hip. Focusing on the rooftops was a tall woman with short blond hair, aiming through the scope of her sniper rifle. Her sleeves were rolled up, and she was holding her rifle in her left hand. A red tattoo could be seen on her chest as her tan shirt was slightly unbuttoned. Finally, they watched as a short, brawny woman with red hair mounted an LMG onto the hood of a car, her thick brown jacket doing little to hide all the explosives and ammunition she was carrying.

"Captain, we're clear for now," the apparent field scientist spoke up in a thick African accent, and the team's leader nodded before turning back to face Saito and Louise. Kneeling to the ground, he rested the stock of his rifle upward, then regarded them with a warm, compassionate smile.

"You two okay?" he gently asked, and Saito and Louise nodded. He nodded back, then said while pointing to himself then the rest of his team, "I'm Captain Jettingham, United States Special Forces Team Echo Six. Don't worry, you two are safe now."

Saito and Louise felt tears pool at the edge of their eyes, but they quickly composed themselves and stood up. Saito then cleared his throat and announced, "Thank you, Captain. I'm Saito and this is my friend Louise. You…you have no idea how happy we are to see you."

"I can imagine," Captain Crispin Jettingham replied with a faint smile then stood up as well.

"You two look like you've been through the ringer," Echo Six' medic, Erez Morris, said, and Louise nodded.

"We have," she admitted, then pointed down the alley. "Saito and I've been on the run for almost an entire day after we were forced out of our apartment, only to find…these…zombies…"

Picking up on the meaning of her words immediately, Jettingham's face fell and he asked, "How were you forced out? Did the infected break in?"

To his surprise, Saito shook his head and revealed, "No. You have to listen to us. There's a group of six mercenaries trying to kill me and capture Louise. They…they killed my parents trying to get to her when they bought us time to escape."

"Mercenaries?" Sienna Fowler, the team's sniper, repeated with a Texan accent as she turned her head to look at them, and Louise nodded.

"Yes," she confirmed, then took a breath. "They work for Umbrella, and were right behind us before we ran into you."

"Umbrella?!" Jettingham replied, shooting his head back in surprise. When Louise nodded, he scowled and spat, "God damn it. Of course they'll try to pull this shit in the middle of the mess they made."

"You know?" Saito asked, his eyes widening, and Jettingham nodded.

"We do. It's why we were sent into the city," Lawrence Kimbala, the team's field scientist, confirmed with a crisp nod. "All of Arklay County is currently surrounded by the US Army, and we're one of several dozen teams sent in to rescue survivors and find out what happened."

"We don't know how deep it goes or how, but Umbrella looks like they're behind this," Caroline Floyd, the team's recon, admitted. "Already came across a few of their men trying to destroy evidence. I'm not surprised they'd try to stage a kidnapping, too."

"Question is," Marisa Ronson, Echo Six' demolitions expert, spoke up in a thick British accent, "why are they after a pair of kids like you?"

Echo Six looked at Saito and Louise questioningly, who began to sweat under the scrutiny. Despite the fact that these people clearly weren't with Umbrella, she wasn't entirely sure she could trust them with the truth of her magic either. For as far as she or Saito knew, telling them might just get the government interested. Luckily, before she could be pressed for answers, Morris spoke up.

"Hey, the kid's clearly upset about this. Let's wait for any questions until after we get them out," he said, a frown on his face. The other members of the team looked at him, then nodded in agreement. Saito and Louise sighed in relief, then Jettingham walked away while pulling out a radio.

"Command, this is Echo Six," Jettingham spoke into the radio. "We have two civilians in need of immediate extraction. They have evidence pertaining to Umbrella."

"Copy that, Captain. Maintain position, I'll have a helicopter sent your way momentarily," Command answered through a slight southern drawl. Jettingham nodded, then walked back to his team.

"Chopper's on its way. Don't worry, we're getting you two out," Jettingham confirmed. Saito and Louise smiled thankfully, hopeful that they could finally get out of this hellhole.

Then, through a window on an upper story building, Saito saw a brief flash of light. His eyes widened as Jettingham stepped in front of him, then Saito shouted, "Get down!"

Saito dove to the side, tackling Louise to the ground as the special forces soldiers, including Jettingham, dove for cover as well. Just as soon as they did that, a single shot rang out, going right through where Jettingham's chest would've been. All at once, a hail of gunfire erupted as Umbrella's mercenaries emerged, firing their weapons ceaselessly at the group.

"Shit, shit!" Jettingham yelled as he grabbed his rifle then pulled himself behind the remains of a van. Bullets punctured straight through the thin metal and shattered glass while he kept his head down. At the same time, he hastily pulled out his radio again then shouted into it, "Command, we are under fire! Area is hot! I repeat, area is hot!"

He wasn't able to hear Command's response as he pulled up his rifle then began to fire back. Around him, the rest of his team returned fire as well, the light of their muzzle flashes illuminating the darkened street as twilight finished turning into dusk. The uproarious sound made hearing anyone nearly impossible, and from the corner of his eyes he saw Saito and Louise crawling to a car. A few stray bullets whizzed by them, and they openly screamed in terror while the boy covered her body with his own.

Scowling, Jettingham slapped a fresh magazine into his weapon before turning to his side. Also taking cover behind the van was Ronson, firing her LMG in the direction of Umbrella's muzzle flashes. All of his team was taking cover however they could, firing from concealment behind cars, trucks, and vans. Somehow despite the volley of fire coming from each side, so far none of them had gotten hit. But there was no telling how long that would last.

Coming up with a plan of attack, Jettingham yelled, "We need to flank these guys! Floyd, toss a few flashbangs near their location! Kimbala, Morris, with me! Fowler, take out their damn sniper! Wait for my signal!"

"On it!" his team replied. As they prepared to carry out his orders, Jettingham turned to Saito and Louise, who were looking up at him with fear in their eyes.

"You two, get out of here!" he ordered, much to their surprise.

"What?!" Saito shouted, his head shooting back.

"We can't just leave you here!" Louise yelled, but Jettingham shook his head fervently while ducking his head as a bullet whizzed by.

"Yes, you can!" he countered, then pointed his finger at them. "They're after you! We'll hold them off, try to buy you time to escape! When I give the signal, you two run!"

"But-!" Saito tried to protest, only for an explosion to go off nearby as a grenade was thrown. Luckily, the car they were hiding behind protected them, but dirt and debris still rained down on top of him. Realizing that he and Louise had no other choice, he then asked, "Where are we supposed to go?!"

"We have a team evacuating people at the Raccoon City Public Library! Do you know how to get there?" Jettingham asked, firing a few shots of his own back at Umbrella. When Saito nodded, he then continued, "Head straight there! We'll call ahead and let them know you're coming! Got it?"

"I—" Saito started, only to flinch again at the hail of gunshots. Finally, with great reluctance, he nodded. Jettingham nodded back, then reloaded his rifle and turned to face his team.

"Now!" he shouted.

At once, Echo Six sprang into action. Several flashbangs were thrown out, landing among the Umbrella mercenaries and disorienting them. At the same time, Morris broke from cover and began firing her LMG, forcing the mercenaries to dive behind cover of their own. Fowler prevented Umbrella's sniper from picking any of them off by firing a hail of gunshots into his window, tracking him as he retreated.

"Go, now!" Jettingham yelled, rushing forward onto Umbrella's flank. Sparing a momentary glance at Saito and Louise, he saw them push themselves up then flee, disappearing into an alleyway and out of sight.

With the civilians out of danger, Jettingham and the rest of Echo Six focused on taking down Umbrella's mercenaries. The tables turned to their favor, they kept up the advance, covering each other with overlapping fields of fire. Barely any of their shots hit, however, and the few that did were absorbed by the mercenaries' armor.

Their advance was then halted as the mercenaries recovered and retaliated, firing their weapons at Echo Six in turn. Now, however, both teams were much closer to each other, and when Jettingham broke from cover to fire his weapon he was suddenly kicked to the side by an unseen force. Knocked to the ground, he saw a faint shimmer as something stood over him, and Jettingham responded immediately by pulling out his M9 and firing into its center mass. The cloaking field surrounding his adversary dissipated, but VECTOR's armor was enough to allow him to dive back and away from danger.

Picking up his rifle and reloading it, Jettingham shot up and looked for VECTOR, only to find that he had disappeared under cloak once again. Hearing a slight shift beside him, Jettingham hastily raised his rifle to block an oncoming knife strike, then he slammed the butt of its stock into VECTOR's chest to force him back. Bringing his rifle to bear, he tried to fire, only for LUPO to suddenly come in from the side with a kick of her own, knocking the weapon out of his grip. She then tried to fire at him, but Jettingham pushed the rifle up and to the side just as it fired, then delivered a powerful punch to her gut.

As the two leaders descended into a brawl, the rest of the two teams fell into personal engagements of their own. Morris dodged a slash from BERTHA's cleaver, which embedded itself into the side of a van. As she struggled to pull it out, Morris headbutted her then tried to fire his rifle into her chest. But she was faster and nimbler than him, and so with a spin she kicked the rifle away before delivering another to his chest in the same movement. While he was able to keep a grip on his weapon, Morris was forced back, allowing BERTHA to recover her cleaver and swing at him once more. This time, however, he caught her arm then slammed her body into the side of the van with enough force to dent the metal slightly.

It was then that FOUR EYES threw a few gas grenades, filling the street with a pink vapor. Recognizing it immediately while taking pot shots at her, Kimbala shouted, "Pheromones! It attracts them!"

Realizing what that meant, Jettingham looked around as infected, already attracted by the sound of the intense gunfight, were joined by even more. He kicked LUPO away, then shifted his attention to an infected that got too close for comfort. Around him, the rest of his team and even Wolfpack had to suddenly divide their attention as the hordes of undead swarmed them, not caring which side of the conflict they were on. As far as they could tell, they were both on the menu.

That didn't mean they weren't still trying to kill each other, though, as Floyd and VECTOR engaged in an outright knife fight. Both were simultaneously dodging, stabbing and slashing, their steel blades singing and shimmering through the moonlight. SPECTRE had come down to join them, and was picking off infected heads while trying to do the same to Fowler. She wasn't letting that happen, however, alternating between keeping her opposing sniper down while taking out infected of her own.

Ronson was proving most effective in dealing with the infected swarm, firing her LMG as she mowed them down. BELTWAY was also focusing mostly on the infected, firing his shotgun to pop their heads like balloons while liberally tossing grenades into their midst. Only occasionally would he try to take Morris out, but by now he didn't have much time to.

Then he took a shot to the shoulder by one of Echo Six' stray bullets, and he fell back while clutching his wound.

"Gah, son of a bitch!" BELTWAY grunted in pain. Looking at it, he didn't see any blood, but it still hurt like hell. Enraged, he pulled out a grenade while snarling, "Right back at ya, bastards."

The grenade flung through the air, landing at Jettingham's feet. He noticed it immediately and grunted, "Shit!" as he tried to run away. He managed to get a respectable distance between himself and it, but it wasn't enough to stop him from being hurled through the air from the force of the explosion. He landed on the hood of a car, shattering the windshield. He groaned in pain, but quickly forced himself to roll off and land behind the car. As his ears continued to ring, he picked up his rifle and fired a few more shots before he noticed an infected reaching for him. Slamming the butt of his rifle across the infected's face, he grabbed onto it then used the infected as a human shield to absorb the oncoming fire while firing his weapon at their attackers. Once he rejoined his team, he dropped the now fully dead infected and hunkered down.

The street was in complete chaos as both teams continued to fire at each other, neither managing to land a clean hit. When one advanced, they were quickly forced back by either the zombies around them or by the others' counter attack. LUPO was increasingly getting frustrated. While she would've loved to have simply abandoned the fight entirely to chase after Subject Zero, the special forces team was doing everything they could to keep them occupied and doing so quite effectively.

As she tried to figure out how best to get past this dilemma, she heard the tacpad on FOUR EYES' wrist beep. Their field scientist glanced at it, then with wide eyes reported, "We got a T-103 Tyrant incoming."

LUPO's eyes widened, and almost immediately afterwards they heard a massive bang coming from the metal barricade. The sound caught everyone's attention, especially as it was followed up by two more. Each impact severely dented the metal, then it completely exploded outward as a van was hurled through it. It sailed through the air, crashing into the ground and rolling to a stop against the gas station's signpost. The metal pole wasn't built to handle such an impact, and so it fell to the ground with a loud crash, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. As everyone collected themselves, they heard several loud footsteps coming from inside the cloud.

"What the hell?" Fowler muttered, unable to see what was going on.

Then, much to her and the rest of her team's surprise, they saw a giant of a man emerge from the cloud of dust next to Wolfpack. He was seven feet tall, wearing a thick, black suit that reminded them of a trench coat. On his head was a fedora, and the only patch of skin they could see was his face. But, looking at the face closer through her scope, she could immediately tell that something was off. The skin was unnaturally pale, wrinkled and folded as though it was barely being kept together as something continued trying to push out of it. It was staring at everyone with emotionless, pale, unnatural eyes. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't a man, merely pretending to be one.

The Tyrant coldly regarded everyone, then turned to the nearest person to it. It just so happened to be LUPO, and it advanced onto her with a cold, ruthless efficiency.

"Holy shit!" LUPO shouted, firing a few rounds from her rifle into the creature's chest, but to no effect.

With a single punch, she was sent flying back, slamming into the side of a car with enough force to shatter the glass window. The Tyrant then turned to the next closest person, throwing a punch at Floyd who was able to nimbly dodge before firing her weapon into its face. The only response she got was the Tyrant's head shooting back slightly as its fedora was knocked off to expose its bald scalp, but otherwise it didn't seem affected at all. In fact it started moving slightly faster, as though it were annoyed at the loss of its hat.

"Concentrate fire on that thing!" Jettingham ordered. As all of Echo Six opened fire onto the inhuman monster, he noticed Wolfpack recover their injured leader then retreat. He moved to give chase, only for fresh infected and the Tyrant itself, now focused entirely on him and his team, to prevent him from doing so.

"Dammit!" he cursed as Wolfpack got away. After taking out a few more infected around him, he shifted his fire back towards the Tyrant, which absorbed the bullets like a sponge. Realizing that this wasn't going anywhere, Jettingham ordered, "Fall back! Fall back, now!"

His team complied, picking up their gear and running off. They fired a few sporadic shots at the Tyrant, which unceasingly marched after them with a cold, dispassionate gaze that promised a crushing death if they let it get its hands on them.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Familiar Evil. Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

Things are certainly getting hotter for our heroes, both in Raccoon City and back in Tristain. While Tristain's rescue party is shaping up, not all is well as Albion finally falls. Tristain is now in the crosshairs, but Henrietta is far stronger than what her detractors and even her biggest allies believe, and she's refusing to let this crush her. Only time will tell how things develop from here, but even without going with the party Henrietta will be changing as well. As for Raccoon City, as many of you suspected we do, indeed, have Echo Six in this story. As with Wolfpack/Delta Team, their status as canon-compliant characters in a non-canon story/game makes them perfect for my uses in the story. They're not going to have as much of a role as their Umbrella counterparts, but we do have plans for them. Funnily enough, our original plan was for the special forces team that Saito and Louise run into were going to essentially be nameless mooks or OCs, but we decided this was a perfect opportunity to show you guys that Echo Six is on the ground. Also, we finally got ourselves a Tyrant in the story, and the B.O.W. version of the Terminator is just as powerful as you would expect.

Glad you guys like the last chapter so much. We had a lot of fun writing it, especially the emotional bits. They're the heart and soul of this story. Without them, you guys wouldn't care about what hells I put everyone through. That's actually one of the reasons why we took so long getting to the good stuff: the zombies themselves. By building up what life was like in Raccoon City, for both Saito and Louise, it makes the whole act of it being violently ripped away hurt that much more. The change in environment and tone also allows us to lower, address, or even circumvent our issues with the canon source material, such as the outright abusive and unhealthy relationship between Saito and Louise in the anime. Granted, it was far healthier in the light novel, but still not enough for our tastes. Having Louise get brought out of her comfort zone and into Earth, where she finally gets what she craved the most, allowed her to begin moving past those tendencies. They're still there, as Louise is still a tsundere at heart, but obviously right now isn't the time for that. Regarding the whole harem thing from canon FoZ, at its core Familiar Evil is a Saito/Louise story. We do plan for a sequel to this story to explore what happens afterwards, and it's not going to be dominated by status quo harem comedy. That got old really fast in the source material, especially in the anime as everyone was flanderized and their character growth removed in favor of more harem comedy. Now, there will be references to Saito's canonical status as a harem protagonist, but this story is ultimately about him and Louise graduating to the status of Resident Evil Protagonist, who are just a whole new level of badass. As for what's coming, yeah there's a reason why I had Kirche ask the mortal question: "What could possibly go wrong?" The answer is everything. Granted, they're not expecting zombies, but the point still stands.

Regarding some of the finer details about the guns, do remember that Louise's revolver was customized by Kendo so it has stuff on it that normally wouldn't be there. You guys can also expect more references to Resident Evil, such as lines, sequences, and what not, but only where it makes sense. I don't believe Rebecca Chambers was in Raccoon City when this all went down. Even then, she wouldn't be a major part of the story anyway. Just like how Capcom has been ignoring her since RE Zero. Yes, I know she was in the third CGI movie, but my point still stands. Same with Jill outside of the RE3 remake. I know Chris and Leon are badasses, but I want to see more Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield in a main RE game, not a spinoff. But I digress.

Let us know what you all think, and we hope you enjoy. Also, if any of you have a TV Tropes page, any assistance in updating it would be greatly appreciated. See you all next time!