"Okay team, here's where we stand. We know we were attacked by something and our 'copter has been knocked out and definitely won't be flying again. We…lost a team member to…an accident, and accident. I don't want any of you running around with the idea that it was anyone's fault, understand?" Barry said with a glance at everyone. All of them nodded, and Barry continued.

"We're not sure where we are, but we were headed in the direction of the mountain if I'm not mistaken. We need to continue our way there and see if we can uncover what the hell happened up there, and what that thing was that knocked us out of the air. Let's--" Barry faltered when he looked at Alicia. The girl looked as if she wasn't even listening. She was staring off into space and there was a completely blank expression on her face. The girl looked absolutely terrified at the prospect of continuing after what happened to Matt, but there wasn't any choice. He couldn't leave her there; it was too dangerous to be alone with whatever was running loose.

"Alicia, you alright?" Barry asked with concern. Alicia started and looked up at Barry and then looked around at everyone.

"Yeah, just a little shaken that's all. I never actually saw anyone dead before. It just shook me up a little that's all. I'm okay." Alicia said, her voice quavering. She looked on the verge of tears, but she had a job to do, everyone had a job to do.

"Let's go then, up that way." Barry pointed up to the summit and they started off.

***

Alicia gave a quiet sigh of relief as Barry tried to comfort her, and then started trudging after the team up the mountain towards the center of the outbreak. She didn't think he had bought her "I'm just a little shook up" routine at all, she thought Barry Burton was a smarter man than that, at least that was what Lutchman had told her.

Lutchman…

The moronic police chief was the reason that her cover had almost been blown right at that start. If he hadn't taken so long to tell her what the hell she was supposed to be doing with the S.T.A.R.S, she wouldn't have been late to the 'copter. She'd even stuttered when giving her excuse to the team for why she was late, and she never stuttered. Lutchman had upset her feeling of control, and they had almost paid for it. At least her mission was partly done.

"Find a way to take down the 'copter, and then take out the team once you're on the ground, but do it discreetly and cover your tracks so it's not obvious who's taking out S.T.A.R.S. Umbrella wants this done as quietly as possible so we don't want anyone snooping around where they shouldn't be and exposing the B.O.W. program too early. And watch out for Burton, he's a clever one. He had his trouble with Captain Wesker on his previous team and he won't be too quick to trust the S.T.A.R.S again, especially newcomers."

That's what Lutchman had told her, with a few details following about the M-56's. The thing that had taken out the 'copter was one of them, and there would surely be more of them flying loose around the mountains. Luckily Alicia had been given a special radio-type transmitter that sent out different signals. One told them to come to you, another kept them away, and another drove them mad with rage so that they killed everything around them. The transmitter was small enough that it could be carried around in her pocket, and activated with some switches in her glove. But she didn't have anything for the hunters or zombies, unless you counted a shot to the head.

Alicia dismissed the thoughts and refocused herself on her mission. She still had the other members to take care of, but at least Matthew was out of the way. She figured she'd take out Charlie next; he was the pilot and not too good with a gun.

"Captain!" Alicia shouted to Barry. He turned and looked at her, his gaze searching for a problem.

"Yeah?" He called.

"Don't you think we should split up sir? We can search the grounds a lot faster, and take out more of the…things…that are roaming around out here and lessen the chance of anymore reaching the city. If we go separate ways then we should be able to find what we're looking for more quickly." Alicia responded, putting on her shaky voice.

"Hey, I think she's right cap. If we split up, it'll be a hell of a lot easier finding out what the hell is going on around here. Besides, we can take care of ourselves, we're S.T.A.R.S." Kevin said the last part with a grin, his voice filled with confidence.

Barry looked thoughtful for a moment and he stared at Alicia as if studying her intentions. He looked at Kevin, and finally nodded.

"Alright we'll split up, I'll look north, Kevin you can look east, Alicia go west, and Charlie you can go northeast. We'll meet back at the 'copter crash at…1800 hours. Be careful, all of you." Barry told them all, and then headed off north, directly to the summit. Kevin nodded and went to search, and Charlie put an encouraging hand on Alicia's shoulder before he too left. Alicia was left alone to set her plan into action.

***

Charlie took one last look Alicia and then headed off to his section of the mountain. From what he could tell, it was mostly forest, but he thought he could see a cave far off. He decided he'd check out the woods first and make his way to the cave, eliminating anything he saw on the way. He checked his ammo, there were fifteen rounds in his gun and he had five fully loaded clips in his pocket.

"Ninety shots, plenty." Charlie said to himself.

He walked on for what seemed like miles without seeing so much as a bird, when at last he came to what looked like a small waterfall off to his left. He took a minute to sit and rest his legs, the hike wasn't exactly easy and he'd already had a rough day. They all had. As he sat rubbing his feet, he heard a shriek. Instantly, Charlie was on his feet, gun up. He looked around for the source of the shriek. It hadn't sounded human, but it was high-pitched. But it had sounded like a war scream, like when something sights its prey and is about to give chase. He saw something stalk around an oak tree, and he was so shocked that he had to sit down, then he scolded himself for doing something so stupid and jumped up.

The thing was green, covered in scales from head to toe. Its head was elongated, and it faintly resembled a snake. Its arms were bulging with muscles, and the claws on its hands had to be almost three inches long. It was disproportional, its arms were longer than they should be, and it hunched over as it walked. It let loose another inhuman shriek and jumped in Charlie's direction. Charlie raised his gun and fired one round into the thing's stomach. It only paused to scream again.

"Charlie!" He heard a voice. It was Alicia. She must have heard the shrieks and come running.

"Alicia, help me kill it!" Charlie shouted, panic in his voice. He aimed at the thing again and fired another round, but it went wide and it only grazed its right arm.

"Alicia!" Charlie yelled desperately. Alicia was standing there looking absolutely horrified, staring at the thing with her gun pointed, but she did nothing. The creature moved towards Charlie again and swiped, slashing his right arm with its razor-sharp claws. Charlie cried out and fell to one knee, the monster poised to strike again. It raised its arm and brought it down on Charlie's chest, its claws biting deep into his flesh and ripping at his innards. Charlie screamed, but it was cut short. He fell to the ground, and the creature continued to rip him to shreds. It tore off more flesh around his stomach, revealing his ribs. It tore off his right arm, and blood flowed from the wound. The creature shrieked again as it enjoyed the brutal massacre.

***

Alicia watched as the hunter tore away more of Charlie's flesh, watching as it killed him. She waited until she was sure he was dead, then raised her gun and fired a shot into the hunter's face, bringing it down immediately. She ran over to Charlie and took the ammo out of his pocket, five clips. She smiled as she stuck the rounds into her pocket and walked away.

"One down, only three to go. You're next Kevin." She said to herself as she stalked off eastward.