Hellooo! I've managed to write another chapter probably because I had exams and study leave. Not that I did much studying but hey… So, if you find any random facts like "the Treaty of Locarno was signed in 1925 and represented the spread of goodwill throughout Europe, as the Eastern boundary of Germany was accepted under this agreement" just bleep right on over it. Who knows? You might even learn something!!;)

Shady_777: Cheers, I reckon I needed a bit of encouragement. Last time I wrote a story in English I got an F glares at the offending paper I hate my English teacher… Anyways, I went to that website. You're right, it's good.

Chapter 2: Traveling.

"So, where exactly is Brideswell?"

               Chris groaned inwardly. Jill had been asking that same question at regular intervals ever since they left the new STARS' headquarters half an hour ago. Chris could relate to her feelings but still, at least he didn't keep repeating himself every couple of minutes. It made driving very distracting.

               "Brideswell is 20 miles south of Raccoon city," he said patiently, for the umpteenth time. "It's a nice place, actually. Peaceful. I went there for a couple of weeks with Claire when I was 10. It's small, even smaller than Raccoon, but it strikes me as being a nice place to live."

               "Not if it doesn't get blown up it isn't," Jill mumbled bitterly, shrinking back miserably in her seat as she remembered what happened to her own small hometown. "When are we meeting up with Rebecca and Claire?"

               "They said they were at a place called Haast. I think we'll be there soon. But I'm bothered by something. How did someone find out that the T virus was spreading?"

               "An ex-employee of Umbrella's?" Jill suggested, watching the scenery flash past. It was mainly open tussock country. Very boring.

               "I don't think so. They didn't seem to understand it as being a virus. They called the carriers zombies and thought it passed like vampirism… And they didn't sound like a mad scientist," Chris added as an after-thought.

               "Well, the T virus is sorta passed through biting people… and vampirism is like a virus, that was on that Blade 2 movie. Loved that movie. Now it just seems a bit too similar to real-life for comfort. What did they sound like, though?" asked Jill, who was still gazing out the window of the silver Lexus.

               "That's the thing… it was weird. It sounded like I was talking to a kid- someone about 8- who was only pretending to be an adult. But at the same time it didn't sound like a practical joke… Whoever it was, they were scared. Petrified."

               "Here's Haast," Jill exclaimed, spying a sign. She turned to look at Chris, flicking her brown hair behind her shoulders as she processed what he'd said. "That's really weird. How would a kid know about something like that? It doesn't make any sense."

               Chris shrugged as he spotted Claire and Rebecca. Claire looked irritated, Rebecca, merely amused.

               "What's wrong?" Chris asked as he pulled up beside them.

               "I have been stuck in this small town… no, area… no… place too small to even HAVE a name for FAR TOO LONG!" Claire practically screamed. Rebecca, however, stuffed a fist into her mouth in an attempt to prevent herself from laughing.

               "Really?" said Chris, "it's been that bad?"

               "You'd better believe it! Why would anyone come here? This place consists of a gas station, restaurant and two hotels. Population: 5 people, 3 goats. If I stay here any longer I'm going to lose my BLOODY mind!"

               "Well, we'd better be off then," said Jill, opening the back car doors from the inside. "How did you guys get here, anyway?"

               "My friend took us," replied Rebecca, who was now combing her fingers through her short ginger hair, no trace of laughter present on her face. "Billy took us. But he was taking a different route that didn't go through Brideswell, and so this was the closest he could take us." She looked sad, but then brightened. "Claire's absolutely right, though. This place is one helluva hole."

                 "Thanks for the confirmation," said Claire, gracing Rebecca with a quick smile. "So, the T virus hovers threateningly like a dark storm cloud over the town of Brideswell, eh? How did that happen? How did the T virus get to such a sleepy town?  I mean, it's not like it's an important place or anything. Has there been another spill?"

               Nobody answered, and the quartet drove closer to their destination, a feeling of dread deep in their stomachs. Not one of them would admit this feeling of unease to each other but it was present, like, as Claire had said, an ominous cloud.

***

Wesker swore. Loudly, and repeatedly.

               "Crap!" he yelled, booting his car. "Why aren't you going?"

            The car remained silent. Of course, Wesker could probably get to Brideswell faster by running, thanks to his speed and strength-enhancing virus. But that's not the point, he told himself, it's the principle of the thing. My company gives me a budget car… I should've stayed with Umbrella…

               However, that's just his anger talking: it's a hollow threat. If he hadn't left Umbrella, Wesker would most likely be a test subject now, with scientists bugging him day and night to unravel the secrets of his mutated virus. He shuddered. Maybe being a badass scientist wasn't such a good career move after all…Thinking of all the infected people he'd treated he began to feel a little guilty.

               He shook himself mentally. This is no time to develop a conscience! I've gotta get moving! On the way he'd passed Rebecca Chambers and Claire Redfield. (He snarled at the thought of the name 'Redfield'.) That meant the meddlesome STARS had somehow been informed of the situation, and would be coming to investigate.

               Wesker could not allow that to happen. His contract forbade it. Besides, he wasn't really that friendly with STARS anymore, what with having tried to make them into test subjects or die…

               With one last malevolent glare at the useless car, he turned and headed off north to Brideswell, determined to get there before STARS did.

***

"So," Sena said, eating her lunch of bologna sandwiches and gazing at the sky as she lay on her back on the field again. "Do you think you guys will win the basketball game on Friday?"

               "Hell yeah," said Ian as his face floated into her field of vision, "as long as the other team doesn't show up!"
               Sena gave a snort of laughter. "The game's not for another week, right?"

               "Yeah. So?"

               "So… I could probably poison the other team in that time… or figure out how to make flying shows or self-scoring goal hoops… then you'd have a chance at least…"

               Rosanna gave her friend a disapproving frown. Ever since Ian had asked Rosanna out, Sena and Ian had an almost brother-sister relationship, always bickering in a friendly way. The teasing was amusing, but quickly became annoying. Well, for her, anyway. Deciding it was time for a change in topic, Rosanna joined the conversation. "How's your friend?" she asked Ian, who was examining his own sandwiches with a look of disgust,  "He was very quiet last night."  It was a bit of an understatement. The ride to pick him up had been dull and uncomfortable. Sena still hadn't forgiven Rosanna for "dragging" her along.

               "Ben? Oh, he's fine…" Ian said airily. Then he looked doubtful, and lowered his voice. "Actually, I've no idea how he is. Look, his house was destroyed in Raccoon City when it was nuked, and his little brothers in the hospital. Ben was away at a sports tournament at the time. His mom and Dad are at his grandparent's, because that's where the best hospital for his brother in. He's staying with us until his parents come back."

               "That's terrible!" said Sena, her eyes wide in horror and sympathy, "no wonder he's upset. Imagine…"

               "Yeah," Ian agreed, "just, don't mention it, okay? I think it's a bit of a shock still."

               Sena and Rosanna nodded in mute agreement, each shivering at the thought of arriving home to find their own house destroyed, not knowing if their family was safe.

               A thought occurred to Rosanna. "Do you think he knows what really happened? I mean, all that stuff in the newspapers… that sounds like bull to me. It's just a cover-up."

               Sena rolled onto her stomach, interested, and decided to abandon her already wilting sandwiches. Discarding them, she listened intently.

               "That's what I thought Roz," (Rosanna made a face at the sound of her childhood name) "But I dunno," admitted Ian. "I thought that myself and was going to ask him but, I thought it might seem a little insensitive."

               Suddenly, a black blur sped over the lawn.

               "What the..?' Ian mumbled as he leapt to his feet. The blur disappeared before he could really register what it was. "Curious, how very interesting."

               "What was?' asked Sena, confused.

               "Didn't you see that?" Ian asked frantically.

               "See what?" Rosanna said, even more baffled. "What just happened?"

               Ian shook his head. "I'm not sure… it looked like a person, dressed all in black and running… but, no one can move that fast, can they?"

***

Claire stared gloomily out the car window. They had now reached Brideswell. Despite the brightness of the summer day Claire found the atmosphere of this little town oppressive, almost threatening. Shaking it off as a trick of her stressed mind, she turned to join the others in conversation.

               "Barry should already be here," Chris announced from the driver's seat. "He's probably booked into a hotel or something. I'll give him a ring in a couple of minutes."

               "He's coming? I thought he wanted to stay at home and protect his family," said Jill voice. Claire couldn't see her, but knew she was next to Chris. Something was going on between those two, even if they didn't want to admit it.

               "That was the original plan," Chris replied, "but I don't think he wants to be left alone to dwell on what happened at the mansion."

               "Fair enough," added Rebecca. "I don't think I'm ever going to think about Raccoon City in the same way ever again."

               "And it used to be such a nice place…" Claire sighed, tears forming in her eyes. She'd lost more than her home because of Umbrella; she'd lost a close friend as well. The tears threatened to spill as she thought of Steve. Why couldn't I have just told him I loved him when I had the chance? She asked herself. Now he'll never know…

               "I think the virus would have spread through the sewers. That's the most obvious place," Chris told the others, not noticing Claire's emotional pain. "The thing is, we don't know how to get into the sewers."

               "Someone here will know. The question, is how do we get them to tell us without arousing suspicion?" Jill was thinking logically.

               "Say we're with the Sewer's Corporation, or something?" Rebecca said hopefully. Her friends gave her the disbelieving look she deserved. "Oh, come on guys. You didn't have any ideas."

               "We could search," suggested Chris, "or go around dressed as giant rats." Laughter bounced around the car.

               "Yeah, but that would take absolutely ages and we'd look REALLY daft," objected Jill. "Why don't we follow the drains from the sea? Hmm, that'd take a long time too. What do you think Claire?"

"Well…" said Claire hesitantly. "Won't there be something in the library under town planning?"

The others stared at her, suddenly feeling very stupid.

"Well, beats my idea," Rebecca beamed. She pointed through the window. "Oh look, it's the high school. Can't be a very big one though."

"No," Chris agreed, watching through the windshield, "I remember there being a couple of people from Brideswell in the Raccoon one."

The STARS members watched as three of the students on the field jumped to their feet, startled. The tallest, a boy, dashed a few paces before stopping, evidently thinking whatever he was doing was a waste of time. The two girls looked equally bewildered and gazed about, confused.

               "I wonder what's going on," Chris mused, watching the obviously shaken teenagers.

               "Maybe we could ask them if the have heard anything about 'zombie' sightings?' offered Jill. "I don't really fancy looking inside a library on such a sunny day."

               "Or at all, Jill," Claire teased. "You don't strike me as being the dedicated studious type."

               Jill grinned. "You might be surprised to know that I was a real nerd at school then. Then I meet you guys and lost whatever coolness I had managed to gather!"

               Chris flashed her a smile. "True, true. Let's go see if we can find something out."

***

Mentally, Wesker cursed himself. Those teenagers on the field… one of them had seen him, he was sure of it. If only he had been paying attention to where he was going… still, maybe they thought he'd been seeing things, a trick of the light. Or something.

               He pushed the encounter to one side. It was not important. He needed to focus on finding the leak. 5 miles of forest and 15 miles of open land separated Raccoon City and Brideswell. It was unlikely, however, the T virus had been borne on the wind, as this would've infected more than just one place. His initial guess was the sewers, going on his knowledge of where waste ended up. Wesker fervently hoped his theory was right. The head of the "Corporation" were less than pleased with his performance so far. Good work in Raccoon City, Wesker, he thought remembering the 'Chief's' words from the briefing. Looking back, Wesker realized they were a threat. If he screwed up one more time…  suddenly Wesker didn't want to waste his last chance on an assumption. He needed to ask someone about anything strange, and where such things had been occurring, fast.

               Musing about where else he would hide if he were an infectious virus, Wesker began to walk about the town. He was just turning the first corner out of the school grounds when…

               "Albert!? What are you doing here?"

               Full of dread for the first time in ages, Wesker turned. There in front of him, stood his only cousin. Wesker cringed. He was quite happy pretending he had no other relatives, but here was the spanner in the works. However, as Wesker needed to gather information about the city and his cousin seemed to live here….

               Wesker plastered a fake smile on his face. "James!" he said with feigned cheerfulness, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

***

Author note:

Hehe… I'll be posting another chapter soon. I've almost finished it, I just have to figure out some minor details. Still, It'll probably be here by Wednesday if all goes to plan. Don't forget to review! :)