Christmas carol:

Barry: Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon version, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly pea-eace. Slee-eep in hea-venly peace. *chimes*

Merry Christmas in a couple a' days! Who gets to have a white Christmas? Personally, I'm going to go to the beach and have a barbeque with some mates and my family. Cooking for eighteen people in total. Maybe I could hire Wesker….

Sorry, got a chapter ahead of myself. It's Time for STARS' s version of events right about…. now.

Chapter 12: Sacrifice.

"Go!" Chris ordered the teens. Stupefied by shock, they didn't move, didn't hear or both. Finally, Jill pushed them out, dragging Sena behind.

"That's not fair. It's so wrong," Ian muttered.

Jill nodded sympathetically. Her eyes were hard and her face carefully blank. She looked as though she had experienced such things too many times. Knowing the effect such an experience could have on their spirits, she walked with them a small distance from the tunnel.

Rosanna switched on her torch, her friends followed suit.

"Uh, this is your torch, I think," Sena said timidly, holding out the flashlight.

Jill looked at it incredulously. "Where did you get it?"

"Uncl- Cous- I mean, Wesker gave it to me after we came across those things the first-" Sena stopped, pale in the torch light.

"Yes?"

"There are things coming!" she hissed breathlessly, "lot's of them."

"What's coming?" Rosanna asked frantically.

"Small people-like creatures. They can't be far away!"

Barry exited the mine-shaft room and came to join the spooked group. "What's going on?"

"You know those vampire children we didn't want to come across? We're about to meet them."

"Oh. Crud."

**some minutes later***

The teens jogged hurriedly through the sewers. Mainly they didn't think about where they were going; that was Rosanna's job. Instead, they had turned of all their torches but her's and followed the wavering light. They were some distance away from the mine when they heard a muffled sound that could've been a gunshot.

They swayed, but did not stop. "Rest well, Celia," Ben whispered, still running.

***

Barry lowered his gun and glanced at Chris. The man's face was pale and drawn but the first signs of shame were beginning to become apparent.

"I'm so sorry," Chris repeated, "I just couldn't do it. I'm so sorry, I know you didn't want to, but I just couldn't and I'm so sorry…" and on and on he went.

Barry held no resentment towards his friend. It was no shame that one couldn't shot a dying girl, especially when the pressure of several blood-thirsty monsters upon them. He was upset because the girl was so innocent and unawares of what had caused her untimely demise. Barry felt sick and shaken to his core. He had killed a young girl, not too much older than his eldest daughter.

"Not a young girl," Rebecca reminded him, evidently reading his thoughts, "a monster who had killed a young girl."

When she put it that way, it made him feel slightly better.

"How long do you think we have until those things arrive?" she asked, looking a little scared.

Barry shrugged. "I guess they'll be here soon. We should get ready and put some distance between us and them. From what Sena said, Wesker couldn't beat them, and if Wesker couldn't then-"

"-we're sure in trouble," the rest of the team finished.

*~*

Wesker stared after the group of vampires.

"Well, that was certainly weird."

He debated about following them, but decided against it. They're only going to attack STARS, and hopefully Sena and her friends will be miles away when that starts. I'm sure STARS will be able to slow them down some. Wesker's expression stated he seriously doubted that. Meh, not my problem.

He did, however, note with interest that this group was much slower. He put it down to a low endurance on the vampires' parts. Shrugging the incident aside, he decided to follow the smell of pine cleaner. It had to have some significance.

*~*

 Barry and his team-mates did not make it far from Celia's pathetic remains when the sound of movement reached him. He had a tuned ear to that sort of thing, acquired through years of hunting with his older brother Joe. He could discern the light, but still erratic, footsteps of what he had taken to calling the un-dead.

"They're almost here," he whispered to Chris. The rest of the team nodded, they had long since learnt not to question Barry's judgement on this sort of thing. The proximity of an enemy was one of those things he just knew, like other people can always tell when someone else has eaten their slice of chocolate cake, or whatever.

Wordlessly, they fell into a formation; Chris, Barry and Jill at the front, Claire and Rebecca at the back. It was an unspoken rule, enforced by Chris, to protect the youngest members of STARS. Ever since Claire officially joined the team the rule had been in place. Chris explained that he wished to protect his ' sisters; the original and the surrogate'.

In this formation, Rebecca and Claire were literally useless, as well as protected, until the front line fell, a prospect that terrified both immensely. Barry ignored their shaking and concentrated on the approaching footsteps. He believed that the team would be able to defend themselves, he was confident they would all come out of this alive. In short, he was cocky.

*** End of chapter! ***

What I put in my last chapter now applies here. Believable violence= long wait. Sorry, I'll try to be prompt. I keep getting side-tracked.

Question of the chapter: how much do you think Barry would weigh? (This is relevant. You'll see. Include light pack full of essentials. Rough approximation)

Zarbok- here's a ginger-bread man for your review!

Shady777- Thank you for your review! Barry ate all the other gingerbread men, so here's a Santa muffin. Cousins? Did you notice I tired to include that in this chapter? Thanks for telling me, I'll try to keep it in mind.

Please review!!