She whizzed past him in a blur of red. Her slick crimson outfit blended in with her motorcycle perfectly. Leon carefully drew his pistol. He too was on a motorcycle, but one not near as quick as Claire's. This made drawing the sidearm much more difficult, since he had to drive with one hand. This would have proved a fatal mistake if he had been in this situation only a month ago, but Claire taught him her basics of riding a bike. He took aim at the vehicle ahead of him, a large black hummer. Unfortunately inside the hummer was an Umbrella operative with a very large grenade launcher, and he was aiming at the woman who had just pulled in front of them.

Leon let two shots go at the man in the black vehicle. One round caught him in the shoulder and he lurched forward, causing a launched grenade to explode off the barrier of the highway.

Leon had to be careful of his maneuvers on this mountainside road. It was so crooked often people who were incredibly cautious ended up over the side of the mountain. This almost made him want to look over the siderail at the mountain side. However, he knew any small deviation from the motorcycle would result in his imminent wipe out.

Claire's motorcycle veered in front of the hummer, she reached into a long leather case along her bikes side and withdrew her own grenade launcher; this one a more compact version. She knew this road well; she would wait until the straightaway and nail the hummer.

Leon saw another Umbrella snake take up the grenade launcher in the black vehicle and aim it at Claire. Leon again aimed at the one wielding the launcher. He released three rounds at the hummer; two found their mark in the gunner's back. The fallen operative grabbed a pistol from his vest and took aim at Leon; he unleashed his entire clip in Leon's general direction.

One round met Leon's shoulder, causing the arm to whip back, taking the motorcycles handle –and the front wheel - with it. The speeding motorcycles rear wheel lifted from the ground, throwing itself into the air, the front wheel still grounded. Leon gasped seeing this. His bike slammed to the ground, flipping many times before it fell from site of the chase.

Claire saw the straightaway come and spun her head around, aiming directly between the hummers headlights. She released a grenade shell at the black vehicle; it exploded upon impact with the hummer. The front half of the jeep almost disintegrated from the blow. The hummers grill exploded, causing the black vehicle to leap upward with the force of the impact; and coming back down with great force, shattering much of it.

Claire stopped her motorcycle and removed her helmet. She examined the upside down vehicle with some delight of her work. Where's Leon? She thought. Claire surveyed the area closely but saw him nowhere. She quickly put her helmet back on and sped her motorcycle past the wreckage back the way she came. She sped for almost a minute before seeing it. Claire screeched her bike to a stop in front of the dismembered motorcycle. "Leon!" She screamed, leaping from her bike to his tangled limp form on the ground.

The computer screen before him read words of an agent's recent reports.

Operatives were discovered by enemy forces. No survivors.

Hunk read the report with a slight anger rising in him. He had sent five Umbrella operatives into the areas adjacent to the one city of Raccoon to search for the Alpha STARS or any of their allies. Obviously someone had discovered them and taken care of their problem. Five agents, a hummer, and some nice weaponry. Umbrella would have his ass, but Hunk would find one of his subordinates to blame. He had not reached the status of Operation Executive by admitting to mistakes or even making them. No, he had gotten where he was by his impressive accolades in Raccoon City. So now he was in charge of Umbrella's Tactical Operations.

This was no small task, especially with the STARS around. It was also a tremendous leap upward in the chain of command for Hunk, only a few months ago he had been a field operative under the hand of the Operation Executive's subordinates. But now most of the subordinates and the Executive were dead, all in Raccoon City when it too died. Then Umbrella had put Hunk in charge, he would not disappoint them.

Hunk's first priority was to take care of the STARS, so he sent in the five men to look for them. They were just random selections, no one specific, however their leader was. The leader of the group was someone who had been under the wing of Wesker, an old Umbrella employee, who also was killed in Raccoon, at least as far as Umbrella knew . . .

The leader of the group had been with Wesker researching the T-Virus. The entire group had been in the mansion, except for Wesker, and he had died there afterward.

That didn't matter anymore, Wesker was gone, and in his place, Hunk. Hunk knew he would do a better job anyway. Now, he thought, to locate STARS. Hunk pressed a few keys and a large map of the United States replaced the report. Three large red dots blinked simultaneously in three different areas. They can be in any of these areas. He eliminated the northwestern dot immediately, his scouts had found nothing there and he that much faith in them. Hunk concentrated on the dot that hovered over the area where his men were lost. Some of them are there at least.

"But what about . . .?" Hunk asked himself. He pressed another set of buttons and a face appeared on a small view window on the computer. "Lucas?"

The face of Hunk's subordinate looked up into the screen. "Yes Sir?"

"Patch me in to HQ, direct line." Hunk ordered.

"Subject sir?" Lucas asked.

"Say its about the STARS and their location. Say I know where they are."

Claire sat in the small brown room, her face in her hands, her tears dripping between her fingers. She had found Leon, and had called help immediately, and Rebecca had gotten there quickly. Becky had done all she could . . .

Claire tried to think of it no more. She had lost enough friends to Umbrella already, one more would not help any.

Then Rebecca entered the room. "Claire?"

Claire did not move, she knew who it was.

Rebecca sighed a bit. "He's doing better where he is now."

"He is?" Claire's eyes came from her hands now and focused on Rebecca.

"He is listed in stable condition." Rebecca would say more, but all the other news was bad; Leon had lived long enough for an ambulance to reach him. That was the only good that had come of it. He was now in a coma in a hospital bed. "Leon made it to the hospital and they managed to stop all his bleeding."

Claire leaned back in her chair a bit, letting out a small – but comforting – sigh. "Is he gonna make it?"

Rebecca looked down. "He had to have extensive surgery. He broke all his ribs and a lot of other bones. He lost one lung, and the doctors needed to operate internally. However, it looks like he'll live for at least the next forty-eight hours." Rebecca knew the details would not lighten Claire's mood, but it would make both of them feel better if they both knew the truth. Leon was alive, for now. But Rebecca had more bad news for Claire. "I also need to tell you something about Chris."

At the sound of her brother's name Claire sat up. "What . . .?" She asked, afraid to know.

"He, Barry, and Jill were in Germany. They went into an Umbrella facility, they were trying to extract some information on the T-Virus to help us fight it. Something went wrong, we lost contact with Carlos prematurely and they didn't check in at Hamburg." Rebecca's head stooped lower.

Claire's face showed a lost gaze. "Becky . . . ?" She said.

Rebecca walked to Claire to comfort her. "Everything will be alright Claire, I promise." But Rebecca's promise held no guarantee.

Ada put the 'bird' down just outside the small compound. The helicopter shook when it landed. She flipped a few switches and climbed into the belly. "All clear." She stared down at the unconscience man in the green military uniform before her, then to the blonde man in the black.

Wesker stood. "Release him and bring him to the birthing chamber." He hopped out of the chopper. The blonde man gleamed with pride as he stepped to the control panel beside the door to the small gray compound. It seemed smaller than it was, and was blanketed by a larger camouflage cover that protected it from the watching eyes of Wesker's superiors. Its none of their concern what I do here. The 'man in charge' (as Wesker so politely titled him) had told him to set up his own laboratory. The HCF wanted Wesker to conduct his own research since he knew so much about the T-Virus. And he did make his own lab, but he did not tell the HCF where it was. This, of course, angered them, but they knew better than to screw with him.

Wesker punched in a few keys and the door slid open. He entered the compound and strode down the hallway to a door marked 'B.C. Entrance #2'. Inside was a large plate glass window that overlooked a large operating room. Along the walls of the OR were cabinets with numbered labels in numerical order; in the middle of the room was a gourney. In the room he had just entered were two swivel chairs and a speaker –with two buttons, one red, and one yellow-. The blonde man walked to the speaker and pressed a red button.

Within a few seconds a tall man in a long white lab coat entered the OR. Wesker spoke into the speaker, "Ready a surgical assimilation for type o-two." He said.

The man in the lab coat nodded and opened the cabinet marked 02. He withdrew a skinny vial filled with green ooze and a small yellow embryo. Then he walked to the last cabinet along the wall and pulled the cover open. He reached inside and pulled out a blue cloth-like bag. The scientist then stepped to the gourney and pulled a tall tray over next to it. He opened the bag and spread its contents along the tray. Out spilled several various scalpels, and may different tiny tools.

Wesker smiled, thinking about his new toy. Again, he leaned over to the speaker. "Doctor, assist Ms. Wong with the patient."

The lab coat man disappeared into the door from which he came. And again, returned, this time helping Ada lift Chris onto the gourney.

"Doctor?" Wesker's voice echoed in the OR. "Wake him up."

The scientist nodded, reached into his tools, and came back with a scalpel. Then, the man in the lab coat sliced a line in Chris' forearm. The scientist spread his fingers over the cut and squeezed.

Slowly, but surely, Chris awoke. He felt incredibly groggy; yet he heard someone speak. "Keep him awake Doctor." Then, Chris saw the man in the lab coat next to him grip a pistol-like tool, with the green vial poking out the back.

The operation would cure Wesker of his problems with Chris forever. Wesker let out a slight guffaw. Then pressed the yellow button again. "Ada?"

The woman in red looked up at him through the window.

Wesker spoke again. "Don't you have other matters to attend to?"

Ada nodded and stared at Chris.

Ada? Chris thought, then feeling the sting of the needle from the gun poking into his chest.

Her eyes met his a moment, then she looked away.