Author's notes: Thanks for the positive feedback guys.. as a reward, I leave you with Chapter 3 and some Wesker-ism. Scratch that, a lot of Wesker-ism. ;) A little note for 'yall, anything inside of parenthesis are lyrics to a song that I feel goes with the current scene. Don't question this odditity as I just felt like doing it. Also note, I combined Chapter 3 and 4 to make this chapter. (If that makes sense)

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Chapter 3; Shoulda been, woulda been, coulda been dead

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The figure loomed over the control panel, a Duralim briefcase in one hand. The other reached into his black jacket and emerged with sunglasses. Putting them on he ran his fingers through his blonde hair and smiled to himself. There was something alarming and feral about his grin, it made one think of werewolves and people who changed into animals at night. He laughed harshly, submerged in his thoughts. It was such a great plan.. releasing his pets to help coverup his corperation's actions. A few hundred scientists and guards had been slaughtered in under two hours. They hadn't expected it; his little mice. His dead little mice. And now he had what he desired in his briefcase. All his for an eternity. The Veronica Virus.

"In sector two sir, there is movement by camera #023. Unauthorized movement seeing as how the plant is in lockdown mode." The voice of the computer jolted him out of his thoughts violently. "Sir..?"

"Display what that camera sees on the main screen, computer." Wesker comanded, stroking his chin as he peered intently at the large monitor in front of him. It flashed and the sound of gunfire could be heard. Bang, bang, bang. He blinked and watched as it focused in on the chaotic scene. A bullet-ridden Hunter screamed as it staggered into view. There was a thud as it collapsed and a pool of green formed; his poor little pet. Then he saw them walk into the camera's sight; the pretty boy and that damned Redfield. He muttered curse words under his breath. The couple was walking around in sector 2 of the building and seemed unscathed. He regreted not ending her life when he had the chance.

"Well, well. No worries," he stepped over and removed a metal box that incased a red button, "you two kids can just go down with the rest of the plant." He hit it and spun around, heading out the door.

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Claire looked at Steve and then back at the Hunter's lifeless corpse. She smiled at Steve."Wow a headshot, I'm impressed."

He flexed his arm in an attempt to show off, forgetting about the guns in his hands. He dropped the machine guns Claire had found on a guard a few minutes ago and cried out as they landed on his toe. She watched his face bunch up in pain. "Sonofa--"

He was interrupted by her laughing. He looked over and saw tears running down her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, "Good god boy, you should do standup comedy. Your strong guy act is," she snickered, "hysterical."

He blushed and tried not to look crestfallen although he was. Everything he did to impress her always got messed up. One huge fuck-up. He looked down at the ground, at the Hunter and found himself relating to the beast. 'We were both just shot down, eh buddy.' he thought as he sighed in frustration, still staring at the dead monster.

Claire looked at him, his head was hanging sullenly. He looked like a boy whose mother had just told him that he had to clean his room before he could play outside. And then she whispered, "Steve.."

He lifted his head and looked at her. She had the oddest expression on her face. "Is something--" was all he could get out before she grabbed him and pulled his body against hers, their faces only an inch apart. He could feel her breath on him. It happened fast.

(hitmeyoucan'thurtme,suckmykiss)

She kissed him and he, however startled, managed to kiss her back.

(thatmouthwasmadetosuckmykiss)

Breaking apart, they both watched one another. The air was filled with the sound of them panting. Claire was about to speak when suddenly the lights dimmed.

"Self-destruction system activated. Please evacuate the building. You have twenty-four minutes and fifty-nine seconds to proceed to the nearest exit. Remember, haste makes waste! Have a nice day."

Steve watched blankly as red lights started to flash. "Was that.. was that.."

"..From our liplock? No, I don't think so." Claire finished his sentence for him, her eyes darting nervous around. Everything was flashing crimson from those damned warning lights. She picked up his guns and then her Assault Rifle. She approached him and handed him his weapon. She cleared her throat loudly in an attempt to get Steve's attention from the self-destruct system which was spewing out the time every five seconds."Say, Burnside.."

"Hm?" He took the guns, suddenly aware of the distance that wasn't between them.

"Stay safe.. If I'm not mistaken we have some unfinished business to take care of afterwards."

He could stay alive for that. He smiled as he watched her walk down the hall.

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Wesker was beaming with pride as he looked down at the Hunter which was crawling beside him. The scene grotesquely mimicked a father walking with his son. He turned back and looked at the building as he thought about the pair of survivors trapped inside. He took a small remote from his pocket and used his thumb to press in a code on its small keypad. "Boys and girls, meet my newest creation.." You see, he had to ensure their demise. It would do him absolutely no good if they made it out with any information. He only hoped the new Tyrant would keep them at bay..

He focused his attention back on the creature beside him. He bent down, put the briefcase on the ground and opened it. He removed a syringe that was filled with an orange liquid and jabbed it gently into the monster's thick hide. "Try some Veronica Virus, my pet."

"Oh how Chris was going to enjoy this," he said softly as he opened the back of an unmarked black van for the Hunter to get in.

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Claire checked the Assault Rifle's ammo and grimaced. It was half empty already. She took a quick glance at Steve who raised six fingers in response. She nodded; about half empty for him too. Damned if she was a pessimist.

"Twenty minutes until the self destruction sequence is activated," a pause, "and please remember to have a nice day.." The female droned on, counting down to the explosion in a business like manner. "There are nineteen minutes and fifty seconds until the self.."

"We're hurrying, we're hurrying.." Claire muttered in response to the voice as she opened the metal door that led to the stairwell and begun her descent. Steve Burnside followed a few feet behind with a machine gun in each hand, struggling to catch up with her. She watched the floor numbers fly by as she took the steps two at a time. 10, 9, 8 -- ooh, eight had a blood splattered door, 7, 6, 5, 4 -- a large and equally broken lock lay next to that door, 3, 2.. 1? Only there wasn't an exit labeled number one.. there was a gaping hole in the wall covered with burning flames and red smears instead. She skidded and attempted to come to a halt to avoid a head-on collision with the smoldering fire. Her hand instinctively reached out for the banister and she ended up grabbing air; the railing had been ripped out and discarded to the side.

She leaned over, nearly falling several feet down onto the stairs that led to the underground floors of the complex. She stood for a second as she regained balance and glanced below, looking warily at the distance from where she was to where the ground was. That's when she saw the hat. A once yellow, now red construction worker's hat was broken in two; the pieces were adjacent to a badly twisted body that slightly resembled a pretzel. Her eyes ran along the corpse which was covered in wounds. Her gaze went up his torso, to his shoulders and then to his arms as she tried to assess what had actually killed him. The drop or other? Most likely other she guessed, as she wasn't aware of any falls that could leave long, intricate slices visable from a far. Then she noticed the gun that lay next to his outstretched hand and almost immediately lit up. "Steve!"

"What Red?" He was panting as he stood next to her. She could feel the body heat radiating off of him.

"Look. Down there." She pointed with her finger at the weapon. "Am I wrong or is that a Grenade Launcher? It looks too large to be a Shotgun and it's definitely not a Sniper Rifle.."

"We don't have the time to go get that." He ran his hand through his hair, still breathing heavily from his workout on the stairs.

"Why not? We're on the first floor anyway." She countered, looking at him.

"..We only have sixteen minutes.. even if I lowered you down there, how could you possibly get back up? There's way too much debris blocking the steps back up."

"Go on then. I'm not leaving without this weapon." She brushed past him and shoved him a little as she went for the fire hose that was on the wall in case of an emergency. Like the door, its container was completely shattered.

She was testing him and he knew it. Testing his loyality or some kind of bull shit. The grade A bs that appeared in those women magazines. God, why did girls always have to be so stubborn? "Fine, I'll help you.. be warned though, if we die because of this I'm going to be pissed." That was only half true though; he would have been glad to die with her. He thought about adding that on and deciding not to, figuring the statement would be lost to the tomboy.

She smiled and handed him the hose. "I knew you would Steve, because you love me.." She was just kidding, but he just had to wonder what would she do if she found out that was the truth.


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She grabbed the gun in her hands and checked the weapon over. Then she looted the guard's corpse as quickly as possible. Upon removing a first aid spray from the man's pocket, she yelled up at Burnside. "It has ten grenades. Think of all the damage we will be able to do!" Claire stood up and dusted her jeans off, moving to the hose that they had thrown down as a makeshift ladder. Bracing herself for the climb up, she strapped the gun onto her back and deftly sifted through her sidepacks looking for a space to put the healing ointment in.

"Ready to.." Steve felt something heavy smack his mid-section and his lower legs. His vision blurred as he felt himself being lifted into the air like a ragdoll. Then as quickly as he flew, he fell. He slammed into the concrete wall with a dull thud, meeting contact with the ground for a second before he was held up again. He saw yellow through his partially open eye. All yellow. Pulsating splotches of dull, mustard-like yellow. Ohgodno. He let go of conciousness and embracing the dark.

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She looked up and realized why he had stopped speaking. Memories of him saving her, not the other way around, flooded her mind as she stared at the scene that was unfolding before her eyes. The Bandersnatch mauling Steve hadn't noticed her yet as it was too transfixed by its prey whom dangled between its claws. She scrambled up the wall with determination and stood, taking the AK off her back. She pressed her finger lightly on the trigger as she prepared to blow the beast's head off. This was all her fault. All her doing. If she hadn't of made him help her, he would be safe now instead of in this monster's grasp. She could have kicked herself if time had allowed. Way to go Redfield, way to go. Her finger pulled back the trigger.

Thud-bangbangbang.

Shots rang out and embeded themselves into the rancid yellow flesh. The smell of burning skin filled the air as the Bandersnatch whipped around and screamed, throwing Steve into the collapsing doorway. It dumbly stood there as she fired, its black eyes melded with hers and a fatal stare was exchanged. It was a simplistic glance, but in just a second it told both participants what was at stake. It was a fight to the death. She continued firing as she noticed its arm twitching, shaking even, violently. Claire dropped down the instant she saw a paw swiping through the air, but it was too little and most definitely too late. She felt something warm ooze out of her side and run down her legs. "How do you want to die?" said the spider to the fly. She felt faint as the blood left her system, never to return again. TICKTICKTICK. Seconds felt like eternity as the monster dragged her to him slowly. She distantly wondered if this was how one's last moments on Earth felt. Everything was so faded..

There was a loud grunt as the monsters grip loosened on her and she was in someone's arms. Young, strong limbs holding her up. Steve's arms pulling her away from the dead Badersnatch. That was when she saw his eyes that were filled with worry. "CLAIRE!"

"I'm..injured....see the blood..?" She looked pale and her clothing was quickly becoming drenched in red. Setting her on the ground, he lifted up her shirt to get a first hand look at the wound. It didn't appear to be life threatening but blood was fucking everywhere, turning her skin rusty. She was losing so much and so fast. She gave him a pained look. "How..bad is it?"

He answered by pulling his shirt over his head while he grabbed the combat knife from his boot. He begun to rip the cloth into vertical strips. "It's not that bad.. if I can come back from the dead, you can survive this."

"It hurts.." was all she offered before she shut her eyes.

He was filled with worry as he reached through her sidepack, pulling out the first aid spray. He didn't know medicine, he didn't know the extents of her wound and he didn't know if she was going to be alright. All he knew was that it was up to him to get her bandaged up and out of this building before six minutes if she was going to have a chance at all. He hiked her clothing up further and whiped the mess of blood and sweat off her torso with half of his shirt. His head hurt like a bitch and it was amazingly hard to focus as he tried to spray the wound. Stuffing the aid spray back into her pouch, he wrapped the other half of his clothes around her stomach and gently took her into his arms, the way a knight might to his lady. He stepped over the rubble from the doorway and moved down the hall, half-running and half-tripping on his gangly teenage limbs. "Don't worry Claire, I'll save you this time."