Takashi ran straight to the door and down the stairs. He could already tell what was happening. B. were right outside the school gates. He knew there were a few teachers there, but there was nothing he could do about that. He would not be able to run down there in time, and his voice would not carry its way all the way down from the roof.

He cleared another stairway, his feet hitting the ground harder than ever before, as he made his way to his destination.

He did not bother to survey the room. Rei was sitting there, looking bored as the teacher droned on, absently playing with a hair. Hisashi was right next to her. Perfect.

He lunged in, jumped past a couple of the startled rows of students, and grabbed Rei's hand.

"Hey!"

Takashi was silent as he pulled Rei up and out of her seat. As he predicted, Hisashi got out of his own the minute he heard his girlfriend's protest. With Takashi leading Rei out and Hisashi a few steps behind the pair, the three were out of the room in no time.

Rei ripped her hand out of Takashi's grip the second the doorway was cleared. Her eyes narrowed and her face scrunched. Behind her, Hisashi watched his friend cautiously.

"Who do you think you are, barging in like-"

Takashi stomped his foot once, loudly. He had learned that this was far more effective than trying to talk over or threatening to hit an interrogatee. And indeed, Rei closed her mouth immediately.

Takashi sighed and spoke up. "We are all in danger. There was an attack outside. I saw it on the roof. I need you guys to let the principal know. He might not believe someone with my reputation, but you guys are a different story."

Hisashi stepped forward and took Rei's hand. Despite his best efforts, Takashi could not help the twinge in his heart as he watched. He forced his eyes up to meet Hisashi's.

"What sort of attack are you talking about?"

Before Takashi could explain and proceed with the evacuation plan, the school loudspeakers sputtered. A voice came through them. It belonged to the principal.

"I need everyone's attention. There has been a disturbance on school grounds. Please remain right where you are and...no, no, ah! Get away from me! Get away! No! No!"

The words give way to a strangled scream, and the scream gave away to silence. Then nothing more. The air was suddenly stifling. The floodgates were going to open.

Damn it.


It was supposed to just be a mission.

It was supposed to be just a simple mission.

It was just supposed to be just a simple reconnaissance mission, but of course fate was going to throw a wrench into his plan.

And Chris Redfield's plan was going to be a simple one too. He had accepted the opportunity to accept a station at the local Japanese army base.

It had seemed a golden opportunity. No having to fight waves of enemies, no having to put up with too many government suits. And even though he would not say so aloud, he understood in his heart that he even looked toward to not having to spend 24/7 with his comrades. Even he was entitled to some alone time, so he thought.

But as it were, for all his attempts to the contrary, he did find himself some company.

He had stopped at a portside bar after a drill. It was one of the smaller ones in town, bartended by a single young woman in her twenties.

Even he had to admit she was striking, between her bobbed black hair, big brown eyes, and slender frame. She had told him that she was managing her late father's place after quitting her old job. Though bound by his formal and informal oaths of secrecy, he had told her he was a military man.

A few cheap beers had led him to propose some time alone after 7 p.m., when the other customers would be gone and her favorite soap opera would be on.

By 9 p.m., the two had retired to the small pad above the bar, and Chris had joined Kimiko in bed.

He would not know until much later that there would be another link in the chain of Redfields.


The boy stood there, silent as the grave and his teeth chattering. His baseball jersey and shorts were stained with blood, and he had lost a shoe. He had been thrown into the twenty-by-twenty cinder block room. There had only been three things in it; a wicker chair, a black opaque screen on one wall, and a zombie.

Nothing in the manuals or training could have prepared him for this experience. The monster kept lunging, swiping its mottled hangs, missing his target by the tips of the broken fingernails. The jaws snapped open and shut, showing off the rotten teeth.

The resolve had left the boy, and he was left crying and screaming and pleading as he darted around the room. The monster had eventually tripped over the chair, crushing it under its weight and knocking out the wooden legs.

The boy had scooped up one, and had given the zombie an ineffectual kick to the head before slamming his improvised club down. The beating had continued until the zombie could move no more, and then it started up again.

From behind the screen, the heads that had focused on the display had concluded that Takashi Komuro was ready for the next level of training.

Next up; Takashi, Rei and Hisashi maneuver through the ghoul-infested school as Chris sets down an approach of his own.