Chapter Two


"I spy with my little eye," Chris Redfield said as he gazed out the window as he
drove. "Something that begins with. um, "T"!"
"Tree." Sherry answered listlessly. All they had seen for the past few miles were trees.
They'd been driving on the road since ten o' clock that morning and it was now 5:30p.m.
After the dumb conversations about the weather, and the reminiscing of great memories
at the cabin wore off, they'd resorted to playing old car games.
"I'm bored." Claire announced.
"Okay," Chris replied. "We can play a new game."
Without meaning to, everyone groaned.
Chris chuckled lightly and shook his head, and "Then what do you want to do?"
After a lot of thought, they went back to playing games.


"Okay," Chris replied. "Male or female?"
"Male." Sherry said. They'd taken a game from the old Goofy movie and tried it out, but
that lost it's interest after the, oh, second question.
"Hint." Chris told her.
Sherry sighed. "Moon."
Chris looked thoughtful before replying, "Neil Armstrong!"
"Right." She said as she gazed out the window again.
"Oooh!" Claire exclaimed as she plastered her face against the window. "There it is!
There it is! There it is!"
Sherry caught on to her enthusiasm and leaned forward and got yanked back by
the seatbelt. Fumbling with the buckle, she unhooked herself and leaned forward. They
had turned onto a quiet (okay, empty, except for a couple of other cabins) road and were
now driving toward a tree-lined driveway. A lump formed in Sherry's throat when she
saw the cabin. A few days before Claire and Leon sent her to stay with her Aunt Kate,
they'd came here. Umbrella wouldn't have had known that this tranquil little cabin was
their private sanctuary. Even though this was only the second time she'd been here-and
after so long too-it still held the same serene, placid safety of three years ago. It was the
only thing that hadn't changed.
Once Chris pulled the car to a stop, Sherry stepped out and closed the door.
Flipping her shoulder-length blonde hair aside, she stretched her tired muscles out. Chris
let out a yawn, "It's amazing what driving all day in a car can do for one's ass, huh?" he
asked her. Sherry giggled; Chris was the only one who would ever come that close to
swearing in front of her.
She stared at the front of the house. It was sweet looking. A nice log cabin with
steps leading up to the doorway. And a cute little wooden walkway that wrapped all
around the house. Surrounding them were huge, massive trees that seemed to go on and
on forever. Taking a deep gulp of fresh air, she smiled. Maybe things wouldn't be so
bad after all.
The trunk popped open and they started unloading their bags. Dragging hers up
the driveway, she gazed around. Everything was so calming here; it was almost enough
to make her forget her pain. Almost. Pushing her thoughts away, she tried to put a
neutral expression on her face.
"Sherry?" Claire spoke up.
"Yes?" she replied. Claire cocked her head towards the door. Sherry blushed, she hadn't
been paying that much attention, Chris and Leon had already gone in and she was
standing in front of the doorway like an idiot. "Sorry." She muttered.
"It's okay." Claire replied smiling.
Sherry stepped in and smiled again. Yes, the inside was still the same. To the right, there
was still the den. With a fireplace and a small library. The furniture and shelves were
covered with white sheets to protect it from dust, but she could tell that it hadn't changed
at all.
To the left was the staircase. The regal carvings on its rails had made Sherry trace
them with her finger for hours. The smoothness of it's nicely polished wood had made
her think of the birdhouse that her father made every spring for the adorable cardinals
that came to their little part of.
On second thought. maybe familiarity was overrated. She purposely avoided the
staircase and hurried to check out the kitchen. Leon was there, plugging the refrigerator
back in. The light inside came on and her turned to her, giving her a triumphant grin and
the thumbs up sign, "We have lift off."
"Never mind lift off," Chris replied as he walked in. "Do we still have running water?"
He reached for the faucet and a strong, steady flow erupted from its spout. "Yup. We're
not going to dehydrate after all."
"Thanks to Auntie Faye." Claire mumbled as she passed by.
Chris grimaced, "Give it a rest Claire."
Claire snorted a laugh, "Chris, the woman would walk through fire for you." She set
down her bag and crossed her arms. "The minute she heard that we-or rather you-
wanted to use the cabin, she up and called the water and power company."
As the Redfield's quarreled over family favoritism, Sherry stared out of the
window. She noticed a path that led into the thick trees toward the back of the house.
She'd find out where it led to tomorrow. Walking back toward the living room, she
pulled off one of the sheets. A cloud of dust arose and she let out a sneeze. The dust was
making her eyes watery. Maybe that was why she didn't notice the box until she was
practically sitting on top of it.
She jumped back up with a start. It was a fairly large box and Sherry picked it up.
It was taped closed so Sherry couldn't figure out what it was just yet.
"Hey, Claire," she called.
"Yeah?" Claire replied as she appeared in the doorway. Her shadow looming over
Sherry as if protecting her just like in the days after Raccoon. "What's up?"
"What's this box for?" she asked, trying to lift it up.
Claire walked over and frowned, "I don't know. Let me see."
Sherry handed the box to her and Claire hoisted it onto her thigh, balancing on
one leg. She tried unsuccessfully to undo the tape, and she sighed.
"Hmm. why don't we open this later, I'll put it in the attic for now. I have absolutely no
idea what it is. We'll find out later. We have a lot of stuff to pack."
"Okay." Sherry replied. She would've liked to know what it was now, but it was okay.
She was actually looking forward to sleep.
Nothing seemed to hurt here quite that much. It took her mind off of a lot of things.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she thought about her parents too much. That was
probably why she was always hurting. If she always had something to do to keep her
mind off of the pain, she wouldn't hurt as much. It all made perfect sense to here now
that they were away.
For the first time in a long time, she went to sleep without a worry at all. As long
as she didn't think about her problems, they would all go away. Seeing the cabin made
her realize that now. Yes, everything would be just fine.