I'll admit I've been slacking; I'm not as far ahead as I'd like to be. But I've also been working on my Animal Crossing NH Treasure Island as well as playing fortnite on discord with friends. Either way I'll try to kick my butt back into gear on the future chapters.

Crystalyna du Starrvan; Claire won't catch a break haha at least for a bit xd Ahaha. I'm not sure what direction I'm going with Isaac but I'm sure we'll find a good path for him. I hate Isaac with a passion. Chris is being manipulated but Chris is fairly easy to manipulate to be fair.

AllLiesEnd; So far I haven't wrote another chapter for Chris (directly) but I do have notions to include him in future chapters (especially as we get to one of the big arc fights).

Enjoy the chapter! I think so far this chapter is a personal favorite of mine. I do hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did writing it. :D

The starting song lyrics are from Born For This by The Score.

I'm checking my vital signs, drawing the battle lines, going to war again

Feeling the rhythm inside of my chest, all I need is just a pen

I know I was born for this, I know I was born for this

Don't care for the critics, my words are like physics

A force that they can't stop, they just don't get it, I think they forget

I'm not done till I'm on top, I know I was born for this

I prided myself on being as outwardly collected as I possibly could be. But right now? As I kicked open the wooden door that served as only a temporary physical barrier.. well. Let's just say I was seething.

Already a smell filled my nose as I inhaled, detecting the scent of the undead. So he had indeed left us something to slow us down. I had discarded my jacket in the car and was left revealing my custom Beretta, not that I particularly needed the pistol given my viral enhancement. It just made it easier to stay relatively clean.

I detected other scents but they were a bit farther and lighter so determining what they were was difficult at the moment. A zombie staggered toward me and I snapped my hand out, snatching the pale throat before giving it a squeeze, collapsing it's windpipe before pressing my pistol into the space in front of it's forehead, fingering the trigger. Brain matter exploded onto the floor behind it before I unceremoniously dropped the body, turning to see Sherry running through the door to aid me.

I didn't need her help.

But Claire was her friend so I would not permit myself to force her to safety after allowing her to come this far.

"Sherry, do be careful. I do not need two to retrieve."

She nodded to me before I turned away, angling my pistol towards the nearest staggering undead. I squeezed off consecutive shots, dropping four zombies with precise headshots in a matter of seconds.

Sherry pulled out her borrowed pistol, checking that the safety was flicked off before following after me as I moved to the next room. For the most part the building wasn't a traditional facility but more of a guise to a home in which outwardly looked like a regular mansion while inside the layout was set as a lab facility for research and experimentation.

As we moved deeper we put down more zombies than I cared to keep track of. At one point both of us had to reload and a zombie had gotten too close for comfort to Sherry. I reached out, grabbed the man's messy hair and slammed it's face repeatedly into the nearest wall until it was a bloody sloppy pulp, depositing the man where he fell.

"Thanks uncle."

I merely nodded before we continued on our way. The other scents I had detected faintly prior were now being heavier and so I began to determine what each of them were. One smelled like.. a Tyrant.. another a male who wore some spiced cologne and fresh blood that reminded me of what I had smelled on Claire back on Rockfort.

Had he injured her?

This drove me to fulfill every single bout of punishment I felt the need to deliver upon the man before I'd allow death to greet him.

"UNCLE, WATCH OUT."

I had been so inside my own autopilot that I didn't catch movement until it slammed into my back, shoving me into the wall.

The Tyrant. I pushed myself from the dent I had created, turning to snarl at the massive hulking creature. "He really thinks a Tyrant is a match for me? How pitiful."

I swung a fist into the stomach, hearing and feeling a few ribs crack under the force of my swing. I reached up to the lifted elongated arm and jerked it down, slamming the four sharpened claws into the floor to be lodged there. I then twisted my body, angling my feet around the creature's chest and shoulder, securing myself as I rolled into my gained momentum, twisting, flipping it's body to slam it onto the floor on its back.

I heard the satisfying crack of bones as the motion caused his stuck clawed arm to be in a position it wasn't naturally meant to be. With that arm broken I had to focus on the other. The creature was already starting to rise and was swiping at me with it's uninjured claw. I caught it just in time before the claws could try to pierce fabric or skin and held it back. The creature's strength was that of a basic Tyrant and thus was inferior to my own even if the creature would give me a run for my money.

I twisted the hand with a sharp jerk, yanking a claw from flesh to jam it into its chest, attempting to mutilate it.

The creature growled in pain for the first time as I began to work to slice upon its chest. Wanting to be done with it I sunk the separated claw into the creature's skull, spilling both blood and brains onto the floor.

I glanced up after making sure the creature was dead to see Sherry staring at me with her mouth open.

I gave a satisfied smirk before turning away to gauge how far the scent of the detected blood was. Not too much farther judging by how heavy it was becoming.

"Uncle you are insanely scary you know that? But that was so cool to see you take down a Tyrant with your bare hands!"

I didn't bother responding to her words as I ripped off another claw from the creature and launched it towards the door in the spot where the latch would be on the inside, watching the door swing open from the force of the blow, the claw sticking into the metal.

"Let's go." I coldly said, intent on being done with this endeavor and the man behind it all. I checked my vibrating phone and smiled at the new information HUNK had just sent me. This changed many aspects of this encounter.

I could feel Sherry's intense glance every now and then between cleaning up the zombies still left. I could smell just zombies now, I didn't detect any scents similar to the Tyrant but I kept my guard up regardless.

"My, my!" A slow clapping from the left drew my attention to an open doorway in which a man was leaning against the frame as he arched a brow at us. The way he clapped was the left hand against the right wrist as the right held a pistol. "Miss Birkin. Chairman Wesker. It's a pleasure to meet you both in person rather than through extensive research and from a distance." He held the pistol up, waving it before tilting his head as he studied the both of us.

"Isaac Sin." I drawled his name, angling my body to be placed between him and Sherry should he decide to shoot. "Or should I call you Isaac Spencer?"

He stiffened and Sherry gasped behind me. "He's related to Spencer?!"

The man's eyes narrowed before a smile spread across his face. "Amusing. Let me guess. You had your little toys do some digging?" He flicked the top of his mouth with his tongue. "Yes, dearest uncle Spencer was much like a father to me when my own, his only brother, passed away at a young age. By default Umbrella is mine but here you sit, a stolen throne to a stolen kingdom."

"I wanted to kill you myself but given your rather tedious viral infection killing you is troublesome and I'd have done a lot to accomplish that. So I waited. Waited for a weakness to present itself. And a redhead, really?" He made a look of disgust. "I can see why you're interested in her, she's blunt and strong-willed. I almost wanted to take her for my own little play thing."

At his usage of certain words my own eyes narrowed to stare at him, relaxed as a panther just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"But she's currently bleeding out in one of the rooms." He threw up his hands, shrugging his shoulders before pointing the pistol at me. "I'll have the satisfaction of hurting you through her death. Fitting, really. It's set up to look like you've killed her. I bet Christopher will love that!"

I was done with this one-sided nonsense. I didn't bother giving him time to even retaliate. He had already expressed that he had hurt her and had left her in that state. So now it was my turn to fulfill my desire to rip the man apart.

I was on him in a matter of seconds, my arms shifting as I slammed the one of his holding the pistol up just as he fired, the bullet lodging into the ceiling in response. I grabbed the wrist, twisted until bone snapped, forcing the gun to clatter to the ground. Then I thrust my other hand deep into his chest, perfectly aligned with the target I wanted at that moment.

My first curled around the organ, my glasses having slid down my nose in the process to allow his grey-green eyes to meet my own burning inhuman amber eyes. I gave a snarl and drew him close, whispering my final parting to the man into his ear as he gasped in pain. "Say hello to your uncle for me. Goodbye."

I had to set aside my personal desire to torture the man and focus on the woman injured somewhere. She was my priority, not my instincts to hurt.

With that I shoved his body back in the same instance I yanked on my hand, pulling my limb from his body to sling the acquired organ across the room. I heard the splatter and turned to see the heart had exploded against the wall before slowly sliding down the white paint.

Sherry had covered her mouth before coming to the important issue now at hand.

I discarded his body into a heap on the floor before heading in the direction the scent of that specific blood was coming from. I rounded a corner to see a closed door and promptly put my foot to steel, feeling it swing open with a solid kick.

What I found cooled my rage. Not that it tempered my anger but it drew me to something far more important than giving in to the beast within. Claire was bound by metal chains around her arms and feet, securing her to the simple chair she was in. She was slumped forward and from what I could tell she looked fine at first glance. Then I noticed the darkened side of her dress in which I noticed blood, not only fabric, that had deepened the soaked material.

He had stabbed her side and left her to bleed out slowly.

I covered the distance and crouched, shifting around her to gauge the chains holding her. She had been struggling judging by how her wrists and ankles were bleeding, the jagged metal biting into the flesh that had become exposed.

I yanked the metal apart to her wrists and feet, allowing them to clatter to the floor before carefully lifting her chin. Her eyes opened and were glazed over as if she were having trouble focusing.

"W-Wesker?" Her light breathy way she said my name sent another trickle of anger back into my system. I carefully held her chin up, forcing her to look at me.

"Dear Heart, I'm here."

She used what little energy she had left to stand and failed, folding downward into my arms. I caught her and moved her into my embrace, cradling her bridal-style to my chest as I examined her pale face as she slumped into my arms.

I was immediately running back into the room where I had left Sherry and was addressing her as soon as I spotted her. "Sherry, I need you to apply pressure to the wound on her side as soon as we're back in the car."

Sherry was already nodding. As we ran back to the car Sherry was tearing off sections of her dress, bundling it up. Sherry climbed into the back seat as I placed Claire into the passenger seat, swinging around to the driver side. My adopted niece was already at work, pressing the bundle of fabric against the wound as she wrapped her other arm around Claire's waist to hold her firmly against the seat.

The car started and we were off, heading back to the castle. The drive was tense, my gaze flicking between the road and the pale woman in the passenger seat. Sherry was doing her best to keep pressure on the wound. I called ahead and informed Krauser to have the chopper ready for immediate departure for the island.

Soon I was fishtailing us into the castle's driveway rather than the garage it had been in. Krauser was already running towards the car as I climbed out. "Krauser, I'm about to take a risk." I informed my Security Chief, my tone leaving no room for debate.

"The chopper is ready, sir." Krauser was opening the passenger door and he paused when he saw the state of Miss Redfield.

"Sherry, you are staying behind to assist with the party and ensure it goes well from here on out. Krauser, gather the paperwork and do what I stated prior. HUNK will need your assistance." I glanced at my man who was nodding.

"Understood, sir."

"Of course uncle."

I was already moving around the car to retrieve Miss Redfield, cradling her to my chest in which to ensure the wound had the pressure of my coat half draped around her.

I made a run towards the chopper, neatly leaping into the hold before turning to slam the door shut with one hand.

The chopper was in the air and we were crossing land and then sea. I brushed red hair from her face, cupping her cheek.

Where she was normally so feisty and full of life she now felt dull, almost lifeless. She didn't really move or stir aside from her shaky breathing. Seeing her on the verge of losing her life by a choice not her own was not what I knew the redhead wanted.

Not soon enough the chopper was moving to land but I had already opened the door and jumped, landing in a crouch before sprinting towards the castle.

The receptionist, Miss Reed, blinked at me before recognizing the woman in my arms and squealing in fear. "I'll fetch Dr. Birkin!" She disappeared around a corner but I was already gone, descending into the lower labs until I came across the one necessary.

I began to work instantly, my hands becoming soaked with blood but I didn't care. The man had not left the knife in so I had to be swift, she was already trying to fade.

I didn't have long.

Birkin was at my side, handing me what I needed and replacing soaked towels with clean ones, burning the bloody objects.

"Fucking hell." I heard Birkin groan as he wiped down a surface that the bloody towels had been discarded to.

"No, no, no." I began to grow frustrated. "I have no choice."

Birkin watched me spin and rush out of the room, furrowing his brows. I returned with a case, slamming it onto the metal table beside her head as I clicked it open.

Before he could argue or debate it I had already pulled out a syringe, uncapped it and injected it into her arm.

I could see Birkin tensing.

"Shalfet made that specifically for you." Birkin's whisper caused my eyes to flicker to me.

"It can be remade."

"Are you sure about this, Al? Who knows what it might do to her.."

"It's a concentrated dose." I reminded him. The good doctor in question had created this perfect dose and it's gifts had yet to be measured. It had taken so long to get it to this point but I knew it was the only thing that could save Claire now. Give her a fighting chance.

Her concerns be damned, she'd be alive and ultimately I put her life as a higher priority than her potential conflicts with it. In my mind I had already rationalized I would accept her hatred rather than live with her death.

"Prepare the stasis tank."

Birkin didn't say anything else, merely began to connect the wires to the tank before I stripped Miss Redfield of her dress, down to her underclothes and got her set up in it. The tank filled with a pale green liquid and we observed her floating suspended body.

"Will it work?" Birkin spared me a glance, concern etched onto his face.

"I'll make it work." I said confidently.

I remember.. running.. an endless sea of land spread out before me with ruins and crumbled structures, the stark scent of decay, blood, fire and death filling the air all around me. It was to the point I couldn't tell where one smell ended and another began nor what direction they stemmed from.

The sky was lit with an amber hue from all the fires tinged with grey as ashes fell like snow to accumulate onto the hard ground.

I ran and ran, covering my ears with my hands to blot out the wailing. Oh god the sirens, the screams, the moans.. I could hear everything and I just wanted it to end.

I relived this same nightmare, a mix of Arklay and Raccoon City so much I knew every road by heart, every detail so vivid.

I was aware I was stuck in a mental loop because I remember what brought me here.

I had tackled Albert Wesker out a window at the Spencer Estate when we raided it.

To save Chris.

And then there was pain. And so my mind retreated and here I had been stuck since.

How long has it been? How long had I been under? What happened to Chris? To Wesker? Did we win? If we won, what happened to my body?

Was this hell? Was I.. actually dead?

A wail at my back.

If this was hell I was so pissed there were zombies in it. I had lived hell. Why subject me to repeating it all endlessly? Torturous.

Something changed.

I don't remember that detail.

I ran and ran until I was in an alley. At the end of the alley was a face that wasn't supposed to be there. I never came to an alley in which Claire had her back to me. I recognized her instantly, it was hard not to. When she turned to me she had a pained expression. Sorrow.

She didn't turn fully, merely her head, golden eyes peering at me. That wasn't right. Claire had blue eyes, didn't she?

She slowly turned and was cupping her stomach. I thought she was injured so I ran over but.. I didn't see blood. Was it internally?

I pressed my hand to her stomach as she wordlessly stared at me with such a depth of sorrow. Tears had begun to stream down her face.

Fragments of words that sounded like her voice reached my ears over the roar of the city around us which were quieting as she spoke.

Jill.. I'm.. Sorry.. Died..

It was like she was taking her time with each word. Had she said something between each word? I couldn't tell.

Did someone die? Who?

Claire lifted her free hand and stroked my cheek, wiping away what felt like moisture on my face.

I was crying? Why?

Claire turned away and when I looked the wall was gone to reveal a street the alley led out to. She began to walk and I ran after her but I felt sluggish.

I looked down as the difficulty to move increased to find dirty and bloody hands grappling at my ankles as zombies dragged themselves to me and tried to pull me down among them. I reached out and managed to snag Claire's wrist but something, a hand, grabbed mine and pried it off.

I looked to the source to see burning hellfire orbs no longer hidden by glasses.

His voice, just as disorienting as Claire's had been, reached me.

Abandoned.. Dear.. Heart..

Abandoned? What did he mean? Dear Heart?

He let go of my hand and the zombies dragged me down, clawing and clambering for a piece of me. He made no move to help me, merely turned his head away as I followed his line of sight.

I watched Claire's back as she walked away until the zombies pulled me under and blackness consumed my vision.

My body jerked and my eyes snapped open. I was awake. Finally, how long has it been?

My nightmare was already quickly fading and I could only pull fragments forth to my conscious mind and even those were crumbling.

I pressed a hand to my temple as I carefully sat up in bed. I paused when I saw the cord tangled around my hand and looked to where it was connected to, finding a heart monitor.

I carefully ripped the various cords from me, blinking to see that I had been put in a hospital gown.

I threw my legs over and shakily stood. I almost fell from the clear disuse of my limbs. I felt so groggy and weak like I hadn't moved in awhile.

I began to stretch to get the kinks and stiffness out of my limbs. I scanned the room and read my charts, noting they called me a coma patient and several months had passed.

The room had an attached closet of basic clothes for patients to leave with if necessary. So I quickly changed and used the bathroom before slipping out. The alert hadn't gone off since up to this point I wasn't a conscious person. So that made this easier.

In my haste I failed to take stock of the Umbrella logo plastered here and there as I discreetly roamed the hallways until I found a door that led outside. This was a castle? By a beach? I could hear a helicopter close by preparing for liftoff. I watched and waited before slipping aboard. This wasn't a typical helicopter as it had a cargo hold and thus I was able to hide away behind some half empty crates.

The ride was smooth and the time passed rather quickly.

I racked my brain for any kind of clues when it clicked then that I had just left an Umbrella facility.

Had Wesker kept me in that hospital room? For what purpose?

I needed to get help, contact Chris. I still remembered his number and as soon as I found a phone I was going to pray that he hadn't changed his number.

The plane a few hours later was landing on a pad. I waited until the team disembarked before I slipped off and down into the city we had landed in.

Judging from the way there was Italian on all the signs I guessed we were somewhere in Europe.

I stopped and asked what time it was at a local gas station before heading to the nearest police station. Someone there would lend me a phone once I said who I was and who I worked for.

B.S.A.A. carried some weight.

The police chief was more than happy to lend me his mobile and so I was quickly dialing Chris, praying to whatever deity existed he picked up.

It rang and rang before clicking to voice mail.

As soon as the darn automated voice stopped talking I dove right in. "Chris, it's Jill. I don't have a phone and I'm lost. I'm in-" I glanced at the chief who told me the location and I relayed it to Chris before hanging up. I thanked him and he said I could wait here but I shook my head.

"Have you eaten lately? You look incredibly pale."

I shook my head just as my stomach growled at the mention of food. "I haven't but I can eat when Chris picks me up."

"Here, my treat, let's go to a local restaurant while we wait."

I thanked him for his generosity before he led me to a little barbeque place. I ordered simple and told him I'd pay him back but he waved it off.

"B.S.A.A. do amazing work, it's the least I can do to repay what your organization has done."

I smiled and dropped it lest I be considered rude.

We waited 15 minutes before his phone vibrated again. He answered, "Hello, police chief speaking." A pause.. "Yes, here."

He held out the phone to me and I cupped it to my cheek. I waited for him to say something, scared out of my mind.

"Jill?" His tentative voice asked, uncertain if this was a prank or a sick joke.

"Chris.." My chest began to ache as tears spilled. The chief stepped away to give us a few minutes of privacy. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"Jill.. it is you.. what happened, we're on our way." We? I could hear rustling on his end. "I thought you were dead."

"No, I was at some kind of hospital in a coma. I don't know where, I wasn't thinking, I just had to get away." I explained carefully and I heard him exhale softly.

"Stay put Jill, I'm coming to you."

My chest constricted.

November 15th.

It has been some time since I put Miss Redfield into the tank and gave her body time to acclimate to the virus I had injected her with. This was a precarious situation as no one else had been capable of reaching my level without heavy research and resources.

What I had injected her with was the recently completed stabilized dose that Dr. Shalfet had completed. It was meant for me but.. it was the only thing I knew that had more guarantee of survival.

I jotted down some notes onto my clipboard, laying it down before adjusting my glasses. Birkin had gone to get us some coffee for which I was glad to have him momentarily out of my hair.

He was equally curious if this would work and so far it was. The virus was integrating into her cells rather than destroying them.

I folded my arms, one gloved hand pressed against my chin in thought. I began to drum the pointer against my cheek.

Claire's body twitched and she jerked her head to the side, curling her toes before stretching out her legs in unconsciousness. So far progress was being made, granted this set me back quite a bit with my own stability. Now there was also a potential threat in Miss Redfield as an equal.

I wondered which reaction would be first. Repulsion or curiosity.

I turned my head at the sound of footsteps. I saw HUNK stepping through the threshold. Him, Krauser, Sherry and William were the only ones allowed to disturb me though Sherry had returned to her work, assured that Claire was being looked after.

"Yes?"

"Sir, I wanted to inform you personally that Miss Valentine is missing. You didn't respond to my text or call and so I figured it best to tell you immediately."

I spent so much time studying the progress of Miss Redfield.. that I didn't know Jill had awoken, slipped into the helicopter that was heading to the mainland for supplies.

My eyes narrowed behind my shades. "Missing?" So she had finally woken up. That was both good and bad news. Good that she was awake and could finally be a step closer to being out of my facility.. yet bad that she was loose, likely disoriented and confused.

"We've searched the island but haven't been able to find her. Our guess is she hitched a ride with Balto when he went on a supply run to Europe." He had his gasmask on and had since healed from the botched mission. Linul, however, had been missing since returning to the island. Likely stewing in some hole.

"Search the island again on the chance she's here and was overlooked. If she went to Europe she'll likely be contacting Christopher. If that's the case she's out of our concern."

"Sir!" He saluted before turning to leave.

When Claire woke up we had much to discuss.

I turned back to take more notes. Claire seemed to be fidgeting a lot in the tank and was moving this way and that every few minutes. Was she having a dream? Nightmare? I wondered what about.

I found myself waiting for time to pass much quicker. Birkin returned ten minutes later with fresh coffee and I accepted mine, needing something to distract me, even if only for a few moments.

"You're really putting in a lot of effort to ensure she stays alive." Birkin noted, giving me a look. I couldn't decipher what it meant.

"Will-"

"I get it. You don't have to explain. You're attached."

Silence created a void between us as I mulled over that word.

Attached.

Yes, I suppose I had become attached.

I turned my head to peer at the tank where she was wiggling almost restlessly.

"Hm."

"You should tell her."

I pointedly ignored his advice, writing down a note in the column to a section regarding her temperature elevation.

"If you don't.. I willllllll.~" Birkin said in a sing-song way, smirking at me deviously.

"Should you utter any admission you will find yourself wishing I hadn't saved you." I growled at him.

"Admission! Yep, that's all the proof I need!" He jumped up, satisfied with my answer.

"Will you shut up? I can remove you from the room easily, you know?"

"Yes but then who will bring you fresh coffee and organize your haphazard pile of notes and equipment?" He made a show of scowling as he folded his arms. "You become so messy when you get tunnel-vision." He snorted as he adjusted said pile meticulously despite it already being in order.

I took off my glasses and stared at him intensely. He blinked before grinning.

"That's the face for 'Will, you're being so annoying but I don't like to use words to say that', haha."

I didn't bother even humoring him. I turned back to take more notes because her survival meant more than potshots from my associate.

"I hope Claire makes you lighten up." Just as I spun to glare at him and give him a tongue lashing he was already leaving the room.

Good.

Give me my peace and quiet.

The first view is Wesker, then Jill, back to Wesker.