Carlos Oliveira

He stood in his room waiting for his mother to call for dinner. Looking around he saw his things. Toys, books, clothes, sports equipment. Rushing over he grabbed his favorite toy. A G.I. Joe. The closest to his dad that he could get.

"Take that Cobra Commander." he said as he made them attack each other.

"I cannot be defeated!!" he said talking for Cobra Commander.

"That's cuz you've never fought me before!" said the other character.

"Dinners ready Son!" came a man's voice from downstairs.

"Coming daddy!" the boy yelled back.

He watched as the boy ran downstairs to eat. Reaching down he picked up the G.I. Joe.

"Dad." he whispered.

Looking around he felt at peace. He went downstairs and sat at the table with the others. They were all eating.

"Hey dad? Are you going to come to the game tomorrow?" asked the boy.

"If I have to work son I'll just call in sick ok?" the father answered with a wink.

He smiled. He knew that wink well. He had inherited it. Smiling he stood and walked to the mother. He tried to touch her but his hand passed right through. Pulling it back slowly his smile faltered, then disappeared.

Walking quickly from the house he closed the door behind himself and realized he was at another home. A man was lying in a puddle of blood. He looked upon and saw...himself standing there with tears streaming down his cheeks as he left. He followed him out the door, but again it changed. He was looking at a woman giving birth. His birth. He smiled as his mother pushed and he heard the crying sound from his younger self. He ran out to tell his dad and again found himself in another room. The underground tunnels. He was standing beside his father again. Or what was left of him as he saw himself shooting him, taking him down again. Not being able to bare it he ran again and stopped. In front of him was Lina. Standing there looking all smug.

"Your pathetic Nathan!" she screamed.

"No." he whispered.

The face changed to Piers.

"Your worthless boy! Just like your father!" he said.

"No." Nathan again replied with more voice.

Again into his father.

"You failed me son." he whispered.

"No." he cried back, "I tried dad!"

Into Samantha.

"You're a stupid Jock Nathan. How could I ever love you! You're pathetic!" she taunted.

"NO!" he screamed, "I REFUSE TO THINK OF YOU LIKE THAT SAM NOT EVEN HERE WOULD I BELIEVE THAT! I KNOW YOU LOVE ME! NOW EITHER ADMIT IT OR BE GONE!!" He screamed.

Nathan please come back,....I love you,....

He looked around for the voice.

"You're nothing Nathan!" Sam yelled at him.

Nathan I need you please don't leave me,......

"Wha?!?" he said staring around for the source.

"YOUR NOTHING NATHAN!! A WORTHLESS MAN JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER!! SAM COULD NEVER LOVE YOU!!" The vision screamed again.

"NO! Shut up dammit just shut up!" Nathan screamed as he welcomed the voice he heard.

Nathan? Wake up please......

"Nathan? Are you awake? Please wake up! For me Nathan please." The voice said again.

"Nathan? Are you ok? Answer me please. I love you Nathan...don't leave me."

"S...Sam?" he managed through the pain. He saw her face and smiled to her. He gave her a wink before closing his eyes again as he laid in her lap. He was tired and needed to sleep.

Joker

Ryan lay in his confinement awaiting deliverance from the mental persecution he was suffering. Anyone, even a guard putting a bullet into his head, that would do. Against his better judgment, Ryan had fallen asleep. He figured it would be no different to when he was awake. His mind was still going through Armageddon. He didn't wake up until he was forced to by an armed guard kicking him swiftly in the ribs.

Ryan was ushered down corridor after corridor, the twisted maze no different to the path to his sanity... hard to follow. He toyed with the idea of taking the guard's gun and blowing his own head off, but, even in this off-balance state, Ryan wouldn't contemplate suicide. If he was going to end a life, it would be that of his tormentor...

Ryan was thrust down into a chair, a harsh light shining at roughly face level. The typical scene for an interrogation.

"So, Ryan, how was your accommodation?", Piers began.

"Dark", was all Ryan could say in response. He didn't even mention the fact he was in a cell with a corpse that just happened to be family. Cognitive dissonance could do wonders for one's sense of priorities. Specifically, it could screw them up royally.

"Hm", Piers grunted. "Ok, Ryan, you know what I want. Where are your little friends hiding?"

Ryan immediately burst out laughing, laughing as if he had just been subjected to the world's funniest joke.

"What... What are you laughing about?!?" Piers shouted indignantly. "Sergeant! Silence him!"

The soldier reversed his weapon and rifle-butted Ryan in the stomach. Ryan yelled briefly in pain and slumped slightly in his chair.

"Now, let's try again," Piers said. "Where are your friends?"

Again, Ryan burst into hysterical laughter, making Piers, for all his augmentations, quite embarrassed that he could not properly interrogate a 17 year old.

"You know, you're starting to go bald", Ryan said before bursting into laughter again.

"Shut up!", Piers shouted, obviously not amused by Ryan's antics. "I'll have you castrated, I swear to God!"

"Why? You looking for a set?", Ryan retorted, continuing to laugh hysterically.

Piers, blinded with rage, exited the room, Ryan's laughter following him until he shut the door and started speaking with one of the psychiatrists called in to listen to the interrogation to pick up anything Piers might miss.

"Why? Why is he acting like that?" Piers shouted at the company "shrink".

"Clearly he's lost touch with reality", the shrink commented. "I don't think leaving him with his dead sister and news of his father's demise would have helped. You'll get nothing out of him this way."

Looking through the two-way mirror, they could still see that Ryan was laughing. At them (or, more accurately, the mirror), at the armed guards, at a doorknob, anything that was around him.

"Well, how can I get anything out of him now?!?" Piers asked angrily.

"Sir, I'm not sure you can. I mean, he's still only young. That onslaught you subjected him to may have made him snap. He was already unstable to begin with and this outbreak would have made it worse. Then, you make it worse still with that stunt."

Piers growled ominously. "Well, if he can't tell us anything, then he's no good to us. I think I'll just end his miserable existence now."

Ryan was still laughing.

"Wait", the shrink said urgently. "You still need him as insurance for those other meddling kids..."

"Hmm... I suppose you have a point at that... Then I'll just see how much information I can extract. Failing that, I'll fuck his mind over completely and then deliver him to his friends that way."

Piers went back in to interrogate Ryan.

"Ok, Ryan, I have a deal for you. If you tell me where your friends are lurking, particularly Nathan Law, Jarred Orr and David Sunderland, I will let you walk away from here with your life. Does that sound fair?"

Ryan stopped laughing.

"Oh, yes, sir. Mighty fair. But I think I have a better solution."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"How about... you go fuck yourself!"

Ryan immediately started laughing hysterically again.

"How about I make another family reunion for you? You see, Ryan, I have the monopoly here.. I own the Mayfair and the Park Lane. You are merely a small piece of this life-sized game..."

Ryan stopped laughing and glared at Piers with homicidal intent dancing about in his eyes. The sudden change in his expression took Piers slightly off-guard, but, for a fleeting moment, he thought he had the desired response.

"In that case, how about you go directly to Hell, do not pass GO and do not collect $200?", Ryan said flatly.

Piers was fuming. It was possible that Ryan had facilitated his own insanity just to piss him off. Piers wasn't the only one who could play psychological warfare.

"Take him back to his cell!", Piers barked. The sergeant behind him quickly shoved Ryan out of the interrogation room and back into a cell.

Ryan looked around. His sister was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the cell looked cleaner than when he had left it. On the wall, before the cell door slammed shut, Ryan noticed a piece of paper stuck to the wall. Taking it, he read:

Don't give up.

Ryan quickly pocketed the paper. He didn't know what the hell it was about or who had left it there but either he had made a friend here which wasn't likely, his friends had already gotten inside and were thinking of a way to get him out which was impossible and wishful thinking to boot or they were just trying to screw with his mind further which was extremely likely.

"No more...", Ryan said to himself as he slid down the wall into a sitting position.

"No more. I will make it stop..."

Jill Valentine

Jarred's heart ached as he re-entered the News station; for the last time he had been in that building, he had felt nothing but despair and hopelessness. He had lost Vanessa, the first, and only one he had truly felt for, the only one that he felt he couldn't live without.

"She wouldn't of wanted me to result to suicide because of her death...No she wouldn't of wanted that..."

He paced on slowly through the dim-lit corridor, the scent of burnt paper and metal wayfaring all around him. The smell had once sickened him as it casually entered his lungs; but he had grown immune to such strong chemical fumes, since this city was now a living ship wreck.

As he turned the corner, something caught his eye. At first he thought he was imagining it, but as he re-opened his eyes to reveal the true reality which surrounded him, he knew it was no figment of his imagination. It was her. She was Alive?

"V...Vanessa?" he called, hearing his own voice shook by his overwhelmed astonishment. "I thought you were.."

Her pale face stared back at him, through her passionately loving eyes; a thorough, sincere look based inside them as a smile warmed her frown.

"Jarred..."

The softness of her voice set a gentle peacefulness in his ears like that of an angel; for he had never imagined a moment like this in his entire life; it was just like in a movie.

"No it can't be possible...it can't be possible, I saw you die in that room."

Embracing her with the most passionate kiss possible, he held onto her, tight, as though he never wanted to let her go.

"I thought you were dead..." he repeated, sobs erupting from his rugged throat, as his grip tightened around her waist.

"I missed you too...I had a vision...a vision of my granma-ma...oh who cares! At least I'm back here with you!" she cried, smugly sinking her face into the warmth of Jarred's shoulder. Suddenly, she stopped, pulling away from him, placing a firm grip on his shoulders, so she got his immediate attention.

"The bullet," she began."The bullet...it's gone. There's no scar. No...just nothing."

She pulled open the top her shirt to reveal nothing but the smooth milky skin that formed over the area underneath her collar bone; the only evidence of an injury indicated by the blood stain on her shirt.

"Now that's impossible."

------------------------------------------

***Back in the car****

The locomotive spark of the car's engine hissed loudly as John chucked the car into first gear, the tires screeching down the raw bitumen road. It was a tight squeeze into the back seat, but it would be comfortable enough to last the entire way to the hospital. There was no time to waste, because the other's knew that if Nathan didn't get some serious medical attention soon, he could be in a very critical condition, which could even result in his death.

"Faster John, for Christ's sake!" Winsor pleaded as she gently cradled Nathan's head in her lap.

"Hey, if I go any faster, my face will change shape."

A chuckle was heard from Nathan, followed by painful coughs and gurgles.

"Nathan shhh...if you want to at least die peacefully, stop laughing." Winsor joked, a smile appearing on Nathan's face as he stared up at her.

He reached his hand out to her face, and gently stroked it with his fingers, her hair swaying freely in the wind, and the faint dirt marks smudged across her rosy cheeks invisible to the source of light he was given to see her.

"You are so beautiful..."he whispered, staring up at her through loving eyes.

Winsor tried to hold back the smile that ached from inside her, by instead biting her lip and feeling it tremble with emotions of love and sincerity; and then there was that permanent sense of isolation.

Oh god...why does he have to look at me like that...Why doesn't this feeling just go away?!

Although she knew deep down that she truly loved him, it was not in the characteristic rights of herself to express the way she felt, freely; especially in front of the others...

"You should get some rest," she responded, looking away from his emotional gaze. "We have a long day ahead of us."

Claire Redfield

Nathan closed his eyes as Winsor slowly stroked Nathan's hair. She watched as streets passed by, a zombie here and there.

"I don't see that many zombies out," Jarred mumbled to Vanessa, who was right next to him in a small embrace. "Maybe Keel and his men are helping us."

"Keel?" Vanessa asked. Winsor was thinking the same thing and she would probably guess John was when he looked in the rearview mirror at Jarred.

"When I left you guys I met this guy..."Jarred started. Everyone seemed to be paying attention to him except Nathan and Winsor. Nathan was sleeping and Winsor was looking out the windows.

Everything is changing...

This could be good-

It's going to get bad- her mind argued. Usually things get worse before they get any better or so she has heard.

John made a turn and ran over rubble or holes in the street because the truck started to jump. Nathan winced and let out a groan making Winsor nervous on the spot.

"John, please avoid potholes and other crap," Winsor said, trying to make it sound like sarcasm, but it came out like a plea.

"I'm trying! But we're not running over potholes," John said. "And you don't want to know."

Everyone was silent as the truck jumped over again. Jarred held Vanessa closer to him. Winsor saw Vanessa whisper something into Jarred's ear.

Maybe "love" shit-

-and she realized that she had said the most traditional romance verse to Nathan. She cared for him, maybe loved, but that was the question. She didn't know much about love. No that was an understatement. She knew nothing about love. She cared deeply for Nathan, more than her friends and somehow that made her happy.

But how do you know you are in love, not in love, or in denial?

Nathan let out another groan and she looked at his side. Blood was seeping through his shirt and already stained the carpeting in the truck. She didn't know how bad it was, but it was worse than his cheek. Winsor looked at the others and back at Nathan. The bleeding had to be stopped-

-She went to move and she felt the small stab of pain in her back. She realized she had lost her backpack, along with the metal bat and whatever else was in the backpack. She sighed and moved her hands to her shirt only to see the jacket for the first time. It was a school year jacket; the one with the year of graduation or something like that. She knew she would never wear something like that. For one thing, it was too big for her. She put her hands on it, flattening it against her body and felt her chest touch it. Her shirt was gone and she was glad that it was already zipped up for embarrassment reasons. She looked at the corner and noticed the name LAW on the left breast side.

Nathan's jacket? Why? Where is my shirt?

Maybe when she was hurt by the elevator cable or whatever hit her back, it torn her shirt. She remembered being on the ladder and then Nathan grabbing her after she felt pain. Anything else she couldn't remember at that very moment.

He cares about me. He loves me...

What could Winsor do in return?

She watched as Nathan's head almost moved out of her lap. She gently touched it with both hands and leaned down to his face, ignoring the pain of her back. If she opened the wound, she opened it and didn't care. She brushed his hair and whispered to him. She remembered when they embraced each other in the park after he saved her and after his battle with the Nemesis on the church. And their kiss. Her first kiss ever from anyone. A kiss of that only love could have made her feel that way.

"Nathan, please live. You can't die on me. I...I don't know what I can do in turn for everything you've done for me. All I know is...I love you."

And with that she kissed his lips-

-and the truck came to a stop suddenly, making her fall to her side and slam her head against the back seat. She felt Nathan's body moved just slightly.

"Jesus John," Jarred yelled. Vanessa shot a look back at Winsor and Nathan. Winsor slowly rose her head, and winced as she felt the side of her head.

"Sorry 'bout that," John said coolly. "A dog ran by and it looked weird. I don't know, a zombie too I guess."

"Then run it over. Decrease the surplus population," Winsor muttered.

"Dammit, she's back to normal," John said smiling and rolling his eyes. "Just when-hey! We've got company!"

Jarred leaned forward and smiling. "I think it's Keel." Winsor felt her heart lighten up as if she was feeling hope. That or it was from her back, or the forming headache. Denial? Yes, she knew she it was.

She found herself starting to smile, for Nathan, for everyone, for everything-

-when Vanessa had shot the thoughts down with a nervous look. "If Keel's a friend, why are these guys pointing their guns at us?"

City of the Dead

The hospital was only about three blocks down the street, and five armed cleaner soldiers stood in the way.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW!!!" One of the guards yelled.

Suddenly, the ground shook softly.

"Well, I forgot to tell you, Keel is our only friend out of these bastards, everyone else still wants to kill us" Jarred whispered. "They must be bringing up the rear on the evacuation"

Another small tremor shook the ground.

"Well, what do we do?" Vanessa asked softly.

And the ground shook once more.

"What is that?" Winsor finally asked as the vibrations continued. "Oh my god"

She knew damned well what it was; they had heard it before, when that dinosaur creature trashed the news station, inadvertently nearly killing her with an elevator.

"Okay guys, stay in the car no matter what" Jarred said opening the door.

"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND" the cleaner yelled.

Jarred walked out in front of the vehicle and looked around the area, trying to find out where the creature was going to appear. The troops grabbed him by the arms and shoved him forward. The other three ran over to the vehicle and yelled at everyone inside. Suddenly, the rumbles became consistent and louder.

"Someone's cranky" Jarred said to himself. Everyone took notice of the quakes and the troops loosened their grip on Jarred's arms.

The other cleaners continued their attempts at getting everyone else out of the car, when a colossal figure appeared from around the street corner. It's lizard-like head nudged the overhead traffic lights.

"Oh god..." Winsor said staring at the beast in front of him.

This one was different, the one that had trashed the news building was more of a greenish color, and this one was a dark gray.

"SHOOT IT!!" One of the soldiers yelled, opening fire on the creature.

With a mighty roar, the beast lunged towards the closest guard and clamped down on him with its massive jaws. Jarred scurried back over to the car, running past the giant creature and the cleaners. The creature shook its head violently and snapped the screaming man in two, tossing both pieces aside, as the other cleaners fought for their lives.

"GO GO GO" Jarred yelled at John.

John cranked the engine and stomped down on the gas pedal. The car jerked forward and sped off past the battle. Winsor looked back to see the monster viciously slaughter the remaining soldiers. She had chosen her name for the creature. "Jaws", sure it wasn't the most creative name in the world, but she wasn't setting out to win any awards.

The car swerved wildly and came to a stop in front of the hospital.

"Okay guys, lets get Nathan all fixed up" John said...

interrogating