September 27, 1998

Alex climbed the steps of Raccoon Hospital and pushed open the door, Kent's office was on the third floor. He was officially listed as a hospital administrator, not a bad cover really. She threaded her way through the visitors and headed for the elevator. One quick trip later, and she found herself in Kent's waiting room. Angelic looked up as she walked toward the desk.

"Mr. Kent will see you in a few minutes." Angie smiled and gestured to several chairs. "Please have a seat while you wait."

Alex took a seat, wondering what the hell Kent could want from her this time. It had been a little over a month since Chris, Barry, and Rebecca had disappeared. She had gotten a fairly loud reprimand for that one, especially since Umbrella had no idea where they'd gone. However Jill and Brad were still in town and she'd been ordered to watch them. Brad wasn't doing anything more constructive than hiding and Jill was avoiding her as much as humanly possible.

Which was getting easier and easier to do with the murders going on. Instead of dying down the murders had escalated, making Alex suspect that something had gone wrong either at the labs or the disposal plant...maybe both

She looked up as the door to Kent's office opened .

"Ah Alex, please come in." Kent smiled and stepped aside.

Alex pulled herself to her feet and walked past him into the office. Bates was sitting in one of the chairs, looking nervous. She groaned softly and sat down next to him. Kent stepped away from the door and took a seat behind his desk.

"Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. There's been an accident."

Kent's voice was calm and serious. Bates let out a slight whimper.

"I assumed something was wrong. Even the reporters are starting to get suspicious, and there have been more and more reports of dead people simply wandering around the city." Alex frowned, her glasses slipping down slightly. "Was it the labs, or the disposal plant?"

"Actually, a bit of both." Kent leaned forwarded. "Birkin had to be eliminated. However, the operation did not go as planned. I'm afraid the T-Virus was leaked and the situation is now out of control."

"Eliminated?"

"Yes, our dear Dr. Birkin was becoming difficult. In fact, he was refusing to release the G-Virus to us. We were forced to send in Hunk and his team." Kent watched her reaction, while Bates continued to whimper. "Unfortunately, we were unable to recover a G-Virus sample."

Alex smiled then, a cold cruel smile, and glared at Kent. "So the whole S.T.A.R.S. assignment was just to get me out of the way."

Kent returned her gaze. "Yes."

"Mr. Kent, you could have ordered me to blow his brains out." Alex fixed Kent with a steely gaze, letting that part of herself that so resembled Albert fill her eyes. "I was perhaps the only person, except for Annette, that Birkin trusted. I know for a fact that I was the only security officer he allowed in his labs. One order and Birkin would have been dead, and you'd have your sample."

Kent seemed a bit taken back by this side of her and Bates was slowly trying to inch his chair as far away from her as he could get. She wasn't lying, she'd have had no regrets about killing Birkin. "We didn't realize that."

"Obviously." Alex's tone was cold and emotionless.

"We do have a job for you. We want you to enter the labs and recover a sample of the G-Virus and any data relating to it."

"Oh great, Hunk screws up and I get sent in to clean up the mess." Alex shook her head, not even bothering to hide the contempt in her voice.

"That's your job." Kent's voice was cool.

"I'll get your precious G-Virus." Alex stood up, and walked to the door.

"A word of advice, the labs are crawling with zombies and other T-Virus mutants. The city has almost run out of luck as well. Bates and I will be flying out of here tonight. I suggest you wait at least another day before you go into the labs."

Alex paused at the door, letting the words sink in. If she went now all the virus carries down there would be, for lack of a better term, fresh. Meaning more risk of T-Virus exposure. On the other hand, things could go from bad to worse in the city in the blink of an eye, meaning more risk on the streets. All this added up to trying to assess which was riskier, labs now with fresh undead and other possible threats or the streets of Raccoon City with a questionable amount of undead.

"I know what I'm doing."

Alex opened the door, and walked out of the office. Bates fidgeted slightly, then turned his attention to Kent.

"Do you think she can retrieve the virus?"

"Perhaps." Kent stood up, gathering several papers.

"Um, don't you think we should have told her about the plans for the U.B.C.S.?" Bates stood up, and followed Kent out of the office.

"No. Things will become apparent shortly. She'll retrieve the virus or die in the attempt. Either way it ought to give us some interesting data." Kent smiled and glanced at Bates. "Don't you agree?"

September 29, 1998

Alex stared at the gun on the coffee table. The moans of the dead echoed in the streets outside her apartment. She'd known things had been bad two days ago, but she hadn't realized Raccoon's life expectancy had been so short. The cops hadn't stood a chance, neither had the U.B.C.S. that Umbrella had sent in to assist. Though she doubted that Umbrella had really sent them in as backup. Guinea pigs maybe, at least that was her guess. So what was her part in Umbrella's plan? Was she just another guinea pig, or was she really the only chance they had at a G-Virus sample? Somehow she had the feeling that Hunk hadn't failed his mission, at least not yet. However she had her orders, and she was going to accomplish her mission.

She stood up and walked into her bedroom. Her movements were slow and precise as she opened the closet and pulled out her uniform. Black combat pants, a blank tank top, and black combat shirt with her last name and Umbrella logo emblazoned across the left breast pocket. She stared at it for a few moments, before tossing the shirt on the floor. She dressed slowly finishing the ensemble with black combat boots.

She walked back into the living room and grabbed the Desert Eagle from the table along with her black shoulder holster. The irony of the color she wore was not lost on her, black had been Albert's favorite color. She added the berretta in a thigh holster.

She was not as heavily armed as she would have liked. Her magnum had a full eight round clip and one in the pipe. The berretta was loaded the same way. The magnum carried Teflon coated hollow points, the berretta 9mm parabelum rounds. Two full clips of the magnum rounds were in her shoulder rig and she had one in a thigh pocket of her pants. She had a total of four berretta clips in her utility belt, two frag grenades, and one flash grenade. She had to go through the RPD to reach the labs and she hoped to filch a bit more ammo or even another gun from there.

Alex also grabbed a small leather bound book off of her bookshelf. Her journal, along with three pictures. One was the picture she'd grabbed off of Albert's desk, one was the picture Chris had given her, and the third was a picture she'd had since she was 10. She flopped the book open and stared at that picture for a moment, despite the fact that she didn't have the time. She was laughing, her arms around Albert's neck. Albert had a hold of one of her wrists, his smile happy and genuine. She flipped the book closed and slipped it into her back pocket. That happy incident had taken place eleven years ago, before Umbrella had entered their lives.

The last thing she grabbed was Albert's shield. The moment she'd seen it laying in that desk drawer, she knew he hadn't planned on coming back from the mansion. She slipped that into another pocket and picked up the utility bag. She opened the door, taking one last look around the apartment. Her eyes immediately fell on Chris' coat, the one he'd slipped over her shoulders at the cemetery. She started to turn away , but something stopped her. Two swift strides and she had the jacket in her hands. She slipped it on, pushing the sleeves above her elbows.

"Enough. Time to go."

The door clicked closed.

Alex's footsteps echoed in the hallway as she left her apartment and life in Raccoon City behind…forever…