THREE

The team spent around half an hour coming up with their next course of action. They decided to head to the Umbrella office towers some two miles away to the east. They hoped to find information that could help them understand what was going on. They would then head to a few shelters in the city just to see if there were any survivors or any living creature for that matter. They were going to do all of this plus try to keep a low profile from Wesker's group. They would hold up here for the next couple of hours until nightfall. They all had night vision goggles with thermal imaging mode if the need arises. They were prepared for just about anything.

Janet had put a sheet over Matt's lifeless body to hide it from view. There was no way they could take his body with them; they would try to figure out something later. She was packing up her med kit and various other supplies when Kyle came to her. He was depressed; he felt that if he would have never tripped then he would still be alive. The zombies attacked more quickly than they moved. One second he's shooting them from a distant the next they're on top of them. He ran with Bravo team but failed to see a car bumper in the road. He hit the ground hard from the fall; it knocked the wind out of him. One of the zombies began to attack him when Matt grabbed the zombie from behind. In doing so the zombie yanked his head side ways and took a bite out of his hand. Matt was hurt but still got Kyle to his feet and running again before the mass of other zombies could catch them.

Denise was glaring at Beth. She was still furious at what she had done and now was the time to let her know. She walked over to Beth grabbing her shoulder and forcibly turning her around. Beth had the "deer in the headlights" look on her face. "You bitch, if you ever leave the team behind I'm going to kick your fucking ass!" Denise had the look of an insane killer, talking through clenched teeth and had eyes of fire glaring at Beth as if they wanted to devour her. "We needed you and you ran away from us." She looked over to the covered body of Matt and then back to Beth. "That man may have lived if your sorry ass was with us to treat him from the beginning." Denise grew disgusted with talking to her and shoved her as she started to walk away. Beth stood there speechless, at a loss of words for a few moments then went about her business glancing back at Denise every now and then.

William got the teams attention as they gathered around. "We are going to search the police station before we leave. There could be some stuff that may prove useful." He began to speak again but stopped suddenly. His jaw dropped slightly as he looked behind his team at Matt's covered body. It was beginning to get up, slowly but he was doing it nonetheless. He looked at Janet, she was looking at him and Matt just as puzzled as the rest of the team. "He was dead, I know he was." Were the only words that could escape Janet's mouth.

William motioned for the team to stay back as he walked over slowly to Matt. If he was alive he sure as hell looked dead was what crossed William's mind as he approached Matt. He had pale grayish white skin, his eyes were a solid light gray color and he rocked from side to side as he stood there looking at his comrades. As William got around six feet from Matt he raised his arms and let out a low hungry growl. The same growl that the zombies made. This made William stop in his tracks and reached for his ruger p-89. He pulled it out and slowly raised the weapon towards Matt. It had no effect on him. He kept coming towards William with his arms raised making the same hungry noises. William pulled the trigger slowly, hoping the Mat would snap out of it smile and say "just kidding guys." He knew this was not going to happen and he pulled the trigger. The shot seemed to be the loudest that they all have ever heard. Each person in the room has fired at enemies but never have they had to bear the burden of killing a friend.

Before the group could take another breath the front doors of the police station exploded sending debris and smoke everywhere. It was an attack, most likely from Wesker and his gang. William and his team were caught way off guard, but being as well trained as they are, recovered quickly. Six or seven men in camouflage gear and armed with various assault weapons charged in to the room firing. Jamal and Juan began to return fire from behind the statue. Jamal's m-60 firing at short five round burst hitting their mark taking out two of the troops before they entered. Juan took down a few more as they were coming in the side windows. (13)

The attackers were large in number had to be at least thirty to forty, William had underestimated their numbers. The sound of gunfire was deafening in the lobby. William and Denise were pinned down under a make shift barricade for one of the doors to enter the heart of the police station. They were caught in the crossfire from Wesker's group and theirs. Mike, Janet, Beth, and Kyle were together on the far corner of the room using old metal desks for cover. Carlos was caught in no mans land, he had no real cover and was staying as close to the ground as he could. He spotted a fire escape ladder just thirty feet away. If he could make it up to the second floor with the ladder he would have a great advantage over the mercs. He made his way ever so slowly across the floor, bullets grazing just inches from him. He would turn over on his back and return fire from his berretta just to cover himself, for whatever good that did him. It was hard crawling with his equipment on, and the fact that one well placed bullet could end the fight for everyone quickly if he was not careful. He had enough explosives on him to level a few city blocks without a sweat.

After several close calls with stray bullets he made it to the ladder. For the most part he had a decent amount of cover, for the ladder was directly behind the fountain that Jamal and Juan were at.

Wesker was growing impatient of his mercs progress. He had William's team out number four to one and yet the have done nothing to harm William's group and he was now missing almost half of his men. It was time he took actions into his own hands. He began to walk towards the now destroyed front doors of the police station. His walk was slow, yet with finesse he knew he was the strongest of all who were here. In his mind he was next to invincible William was just a bug to him and he wanted to step on him. He pulled a grenade from his military web belt and with out regard for his own men tossed it in the station. A few short seconds before BOOM it went off he could hear the screams of several men. He used the explosion as the perfect distraction. With blinding speed he entered the station and headed straight toward Jamal and Juan.

Jamal and Juan barely had time to react at the arrival of Wesker. Wesker grabbed Juan by the straps of his backpack and gave him a healthy toss some thirty to forty feet, landing with a loud thud knocking him unconscious. Jamal struck Wesker as he did this, hit him hard enough to knock any normal man to the ground. Jamal learned very quickly that Wesker was not normal. In the blink of an eye Wesker disarmed Jamal and snapped his wrist in two, nearly tearing off his hand. The pain was intense as Jamal let out a loud scream. With his now useless right hand Jamal reached for his desert eagle 50cal. Side arm. As he pulled it out of its holster, Wesker grabbed his hand and made Jamal point the gun at his knee. Jamal was mortified, he was strong he could curl close to three hundred pounds, could bench press over six hundred, he won numerous strong man competitions in his day. Yet this man with the dark sunglasses and an evil smile, who was half his size, was stronger than he has ever seen any one. Just in the time it took Jamal to figure out how strong Wesker was, he heard the desert eagle fire and he went down on one knee. The pain did not come right away, which meant he was going into shock. Blood was pouring out of the quarter size hole just above his kneecap, his leg was know useless as was his hand. He could do little more than lie there and take what ever was coming like a true soldier. Wesker grabbed him by the back of the neck and drug him into the middle of the lobby, right into the middle of the gunfire. Wesker looked around and spotted William. With an almost dragon like voice Wesker called out his name. "William, come out or he dies." On those words the mercs held their fire, the lobby was wickedly quiet.

William looked up from his make shift refuge and saw Jamal barely hanging on to consciousness. He was in bad shape, his right hand was severely broken and bleeding from the few bones that were sticking out, and his right knee was shot and it to was also useless. He was in pain and would need help fast William stood up quickly raising his mpk5 and putting the laser sight over Wesker's right eye. But before he could pull the trigger Wesker lifted Jamal in the line of fire. Wesker spoke again, "William Maximus." His voice was evil and sinister. "So, what brings you to this lovely city." He answered for William. You are here to help out old friends, well all of them are dead, and this hole city is dead." William stood there his weapon still at the ready. "Then why in the hell are you here you backstabbing bastard." William's words were filled with anger. Wesker let out an evil chuckle, Jamal was gritting his teeth trying to withstand the pain from his injuries. Wesker was cocky and that could play into William's hand, one slip up and he is toast. Just as William was thinking this, Carlos swung from an overhead rope from the second floor landing on Wesker's back.

(14)

Wesker reacted with superhuman speed and strength. He reached around and grabbed Carlos by the straps on his vest and threw him some twenty feet. Carlos landed with a loud crash, into the west wall just in front of Mike and Janet. It seemed like he literally slid down the wall, slowly down to the floor with a soft thud. William still did not have a clear shot, this made him frustrated. He could see the pain and terror in Jamal's eyes. William was a hardcore soldier and he knew if he killed Jamal he would open fire instantly, regardless of Jamal's lifeless body being in the way. He figured Wesker did not and that was an advantage in his favor.

Wesker was getting tired of playing games with these people they were no challenge for him. Far inferior to him, he was their master as far as he was concerned. He felt it was time to show them. With a simple twist of his hands he felt the bones in Jamal's neck break and his life sucked from his body. Then he heard gunfire and an instant later felt a burning pain in his left arm and saw Jamal's body twitching from the impact of bullets. He felt blood trickle down from his right cheek followed by a sharp burning pain. All of this happening in a second or two. Wesker responded with a quick look of surprise and then threw Jamal's body at William. This gave him just enough time to leap the railing to the fountain and out the door.

William was pissed. Pissed at the fact this mission has sucked from the start and now two of his men were dead. He had to get Wesker, make him pay for this. He made William's blood boil with anger. William looked around the lobby, it was a mess they had to regroup and fast. Had to get their search going and leave this god forsaken city. "o.k. people lets search the dead goons for any type of ammo, weapons maps, anything we can use." William despite two of his men dying in the past twenty minutes he was already giving orders as if it never happened. It was not that he cared, he knew he had a job to do and he needed to be strong for the other people under his command. Denise knew this about William and for some reason this made her attracted to him in some way. She wished to know him better, like no one else ever has. She pushed her feelings aside, this was not what she needed to be thinking about at this moment.

Wesker was confused, how could this happen to him. He was stronger, faster, smarter, he was their superior. William, William Maximus, yes he was not your normal trooper, he was different from others he has faced, maybe even better than that dreaded Chris Redfield. Wesker would give the first round to William, his shoulder was aching in pain, but that would heal in a few hours. His cheek had already quick bleeding for it was a mere scratch. Next time he would not under estimate his new found enemy.

They put Jamal's body next to Matt's and covered them both. They had to cut the sadness short and get back to focusing on their own survival. They found some more ammo, and grenades on the soldiers but not much else. This was a sign that they were a strictly "do as your told" outfit. With everyone ready and loaded up with all the could carry and still move at a quickened pace. They left a few items behind but hid them in the fountain just in case. While still in the police station they decided it was best to split up. They formed new teams consisting of team one, William, Denise, Beth, and Mike. The second would be Carlos, Kyle, Juan and Janet. Inside the police station they were within second of each other and they would get done in half the time, seemed like a good idea. They went their separate ways, William and his group taking the west side and Carlos and his gang heading east. They would meet back here in three hours or when they were done.

Wesker was pacing back and forth on the roof of the police station plotting his revenge on William and his toy soldiers. He would probably release his favorite killers, the hunters, he had some here in Raccoon, just incase this sort of thing happened. "yes, hunters will do the trick." Wesker felt proud for this idea. He could watch them kill his enemies, for some reason the hunters did not attack him, maybe they sensed that he to had the t-virus running through his veins and they knew he was superior to them. Wesker then let a broad evil smile come across his face. "And while I'm at it why don't I let a bunch of virus carriers in the station as well." he proceeded down the fire escape to the side alley and as he walked around the station opening doors and window to allow easy access for the zombies. They could smell live flesh from quite a distance and he was sure to assist them in their hunt for food.

(15)

Carlos was still aching from his meeting with Wesker. Every bone in his body seemed to ache but he pushed those feelings aside. He was just happy not to have anything broken. Juan took point with Beth and Kyle in the middle, Carlos followed up the rear. The hallway was dimly lit and some fighting had already been done. There were several bodies laying around all with massive gunshot damage. The smell of rotting flesh almost made the group gag but they pushed it back down. Some ten feet away the hall way took a sharp left, it was a totally blind corner. Juan stopped and listened carefully, hearing only a clicking noise. Juan never has heard such a noise.

William and his crew encountered a barricade just as they entered the hall just past the waiting room. It took them several minutes to lower it enough to crawl over and into a long winding hall way. Under normal circumstances this would not appear as scary as it does now, but after what has happened in this city this hall looked like something out of a horror movie. William let his mpk5 lead the way in front of him, ready to strike at an instant with 9mm Teflon coated shells. These rounds had the ability to penetrate almost anything they would go through the best body armor like a hot knife through butter, highly illegal but William kept a supply anyway, and under this situation he thought no one would mind.

They came to a series of lefts and rights in the hall way. They were heading toward the conference room if his memory served him correctly. Then they heard them, the sounds of the hungry dead were coming from every where. Mike looked back to see dozens of the zombies coming through several of the windows they passed just a moment ago. His eyes widened as he appeared to panic in a small way. He began to shake uncontrollably trying to find the trigger of his ag36 assault rifle. William was about to snap him out of it when in front of them the same scene was playing again. Dozens of the undead were piling into the windows. William and Denise open fired from their front and were blasting at three round burst, each hitting it's intended target. Mike finally found his soldier instinct as a few of the zombies were no more than six feet away. He opened up on them with a fury from his weapon tearing their lifeless bodies to shreds.

Beth was standing by Mike's side and opened fire from her twin micro uzi's. the sound of the guns were that of a sewing machine gone mad. She was using her thirty round clips just as fast as she was able to fire. At this rate she would be out of ammo in no time, she had to think of something to buy HER an escape. She looked back at William and Denise they were both occupied and could not see her. She looked over to mike who was concentrating on his current task at hand. This was as good a time as any to get out of here. She raised the back of her micro uzi and brought it crashing down on Mike's head, knocking him unconscious. She pushed him as hard as she could towards the hoard of hungry undead. As they started to tear his body apart she screamed. "Mike, no!" William glanced over his shoulder and saw another of his men going down and poor Beth crying out his name. William had just about enough of this, and at this rate they would just waste ammo. The zombies seem to be coming from everywhere. He had a plan that may just buy them the precious few moments they need to escape to the other side if the hallway.

Beth was back stepping to William and Denise. Her plan had worked for the time being. The zombies were all occupied by Mike's now lifeless body. William pulled out a grenade and tossed it down the hall. They took cover behind a few old tables and heard the deafening boom of the grenade sending the zombies to the final death. He looked out from the table. It was clear but could hear more coming. It was now or never, the three of them darted off towards the end of the hall way, Beth making sure she was up front.

William for some unknown reason took Denise's hand as they were running. Holding it tightly and she felt safe despite what was happening around them. She knew at that moment she could trust him with her life. They just made it past the windows as more zombies were coming in. they ran past the conference room and around another corner. Beth was a corner ahead of them. William had a sigh of relief when he saw that steel shutters were down in the remaining hallway just thirty more feet and they could leave this death trap. They were heading towards the door as Beth began to open it, just ten more feet, then she closed the steel door on them. "Beth what the fuck are you doing!" William pounded on the door to no avail. He heard the loud click of a slide lock. Hiss bullets would do no good against a lock that big. He looked at Denise who was furious at what just happened. But the sounds approaching them made them put their feelings on hold. (16)