"How big is this place?" I muttered to myself, as an hour later, I hadn't seen any sign that I was coming upon the city gates. On my left was a parking garage, my right, an office building. It was the least demolished building I had seen yet. Just as I was thinking that, a scream erupted from the building.

"Crap." I steered the bike toward the building and drove up the steps. I jumped off the bike, cutting the motor and pulling the shotgun from my shoulder. Another scream, this one off to my right and above me. I flew up the steps, listening for the shuffling feet, the decomposing stench. Another scream, this time cut off before it could be finished. I burst into the room in time to see three zombies, their faces disgusting, one missing an eye, shuffling towards a man and a kid. The woman was lying on the floor at their feet. I wasn't sure if she was dead or unconscious. I hoped the latter.

"Cover her eyes!" I yelled at the man. I hoped he would understand. I waited until the eyeless zombie was in front of me and then released the shot into its face. The blast went through the creature's head, splattering gray matter on the wall behind them. The next one I met with a flat palm to the nose, driving the creature's cartilage into its brain. It fell to the ground beside the other, now faceless, zombie. The third slashed at me slowly. I blocked it easily and twisted my hand upward, catching its neck in one hand. I grabbed the other side of its decaying face and twisted, breaking its neck. It fell beside its fellows. I walked over to the man, woman and child trio and squatted down in front of the woman. I looked her over carefully. There were no scratches or bite marks that I could see.

"W-who the hell are you?" the man asked, looking shaken.

"My name is Alice," I said, looking at him for the first time. He looked around thirty, with a buzz cut, torn jeans and a blue shirt. I looked at the little girl. Her eyes were wide and she looked on the verge of shock. She looked around eight and was wearing a dirty blue dress.

"My turn. Who are you?"

The man sighed. "My name is Chris Redfield. That is my sister," he said as he pointed towards the unconscious woman. "And I have no clue who the little girl is." He said to my unspoken question.

"Try and revive her," I told Chris. I didn't wait to see if he took my order, instead I moved to sit beside the little girl.

"Hi, sweetheart. Are you okay?" I asked. Her eyes met mine and they got a little smaller. Good. She wasn't in shock. She shook her head slowly.

"What's your name?" I asked gently.

"Sherry," she said, her voice shaking.

"Hi, Sherry. My name is Alice. As in Wonderland, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts. Have you ever seen the movie?" I wondered why I was comparing myself to the Lewis Carroll character.

Slowly, Sherry smiled. It was tiny but it was a start. "I like the Cheshire Cat."

I echoed the girl's smile and pulled her to her feet. I glanced at Chris. He had revived his sister and was talking to her in a quiet voice.

"I hate to tell you this but we need to move. Where there's smoke, there's fire," I said, indicating the zombies with a slight nod of my head. Chris helped his sister up. She walked over to where the zombies were lying. I saw Sherry watching her. I stood in front of the girl. She had already seen enough. The woman kicked the zombies aside and stooped down. She came back up with a wolfram p2k, including silencer.

I raised an eyebrow in her direction. "James Bond, much?"

She smiled. "Never leave home without it. My name is Claire Redfield. That's-"

"Your brother, Chris, I know. Well, we've got quite a trip ahead of us. Let's go." I took Sherry's hand, keeping her out of eyesight of the destroyed creatures on the floor.

"Do you have a car or something?" Chris asked, not moving.

"I have a motorcycle, but its not like I can fit all of us on it. Now, c'mon." I was starting to get angry. I was trying to help him, didn't he get it? I started down the stairs and was out the door before I heard Claire say: "Chris, move." A few moments later, I heard the two of them on the stairs.

We were out on the street. "How'd you two get into this?" I asked. Claire answered.

"We work for S.T.A.R.S. Our group got separated. Then those things attacked us and we ended up in there..."

I felt a finger of ice slide into my stomach. S.T.A.R.S. worked for the Umbrella Corporation. I turned quickly, pulling Sherry behind me with one hand and drawing the Sig with the other. I leveled the gun at Chris. His expression was surprised, Claire's, startled.

"You work for Umbrella," I said, my voice cold and gravelly. Chris put his hands up in a calming pose. "We used to work for Umbrella-"

"Sort of. We were trying to put a stop to their experimentation," Claire explained. An image of a man and a woman flashed in my head. So, these two were trying to bring Umbrella down. Like another brother and sister team I had known. Lisa and Matt. Lisa had been killed and worse for being an employee of Umbrella. As for Matt, I still had no clue where he was or what had happened to him after we had been separated. Slowly, I lowered the gun, placing it in my coat pocket and clicking the safety back into place.

"There's no way for you to prove what you're saying, is there?"

Chris hesitated. "We had a contact that had a contact. You didn't by chance know a Lisa Broward, did you?"

Lisa. Once again, her meeting with me flashed through my head. I felt my guard lower. I sighed. "Yes, I did."

"What happened to her?" Claire asked quietly.

"She's dead," I said flatly. "We need to keep moving." I glanced at Sherry, her eyes were wide again.

"I'm...sorry. You don't know what happened in the Hive..." I started. To my surprise, Chris nodded. "We know some of it. We met someone who lived through it."

Now, it was my surprised face they saw. "Who did you meet?"

A flicker of...something passed across the pair's faces.

"They...wanted to remain anonymous," Chris said carefully.

Okay, fine, they wanted to be mysterious, fine.

"We were actually going to meet the person before we heard Sherry screaming for help," Claire said, glancing briefly at her brother.

"Are we going the right way?" Sherry asked softly.

I jumped. I had forgotten the little girl was beside me.

Chris looked around, trying to get his bearings. "We need to go past this building and then cut North as soon as possible. But we're supposed to stick to the roads."

"Fine, but we still need to hurry. We only have a few hours left of daylight. Then, it'll get worse." Somehow, instinctively, I knew my words to be true. Umbrella had created something...I struggled to think. Something that could only tolerate the darkness. I shook my head. Where had that image come from? Chris nodded. He took the lead and I let him. He seemed to know where he was going. I glanced at the skyline. The sunlight was fading, dying the clouds a muddy red. I shivered. The sight was ominous.

It had been an hour and according to Chris, we were still at least a half hour from the "safe" house, where we were supposed to meet their contact. Sherry was starting to tire. She lagged behind me. I wanted to pick the little girl up, but so far, I was the only one that seemed to know how and when to use a weapon. When I had pulled the gun on Chris, Claire had forgotten she even had the P2K.

"Claire...? Can you...?" I started, nodding discreetly towards Sherry.

Claire, again, looked startled but nodded. "Sherry, sweetie, how 'bout a piggy-back ride?" she asked the girl. Sherry smiled that tiny smile of hers and nodded shyly. Claire picked her up.

"Get in front of me. Stay between me and Chris."

Claire had her hands full with the kid. If something came after us, she would be the least likely person to defend any of us or even herself.

"We're almost there," Chris announced over his shoulder. I frowned but didn't say anything. He had said a half-hour. It had only been ten minutes at most. But no warning alarms went off in my head. Even so, I felt for the Sig in my jacket pocket. Its weight was comforting in some strange way. The buildings around us were the least destroyed of any I had seen. Chris suddenly stopped. Claire almost ran into him. I pulled the Sig from my pocket and held it in a two-handed grip near my thigh.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice low.

Chris didn't say anything for a moment. Then, when I thought I couldn't stand his silence anymore, he spoke. "That's the place."

I looked at the building. It was five stories of what looked like apartments. Some of the windows were boarded up, others retained all of their glass. The building was made of brick and had a cast-iron fire escape running up the side we were facing. The building had scorch marks around the base, as though someone had tried to burn it down. Maybe someone had. I didn't see anything that made me suspicious so I nodded.

"Okay. Let's go."

Chris nodded again and started up the fire escape without another word.

Claire hesitated, not sure what to do with Sherry. "Go up first and I'll hand her to you."

Claire moved quickly up the ladder and then turned, once she was on the first landing. Her eyes widened as the first warning bell went off in my head, like someone had hit a gong in a cartoon. I turned, seeing the mutated rats creeping towards Sherry and myself.

"Crap." I scooped Sherry up and threw her to Claire, displaying a strength I hadn't known I had. I hoped Claire would catch her. I turned, pulling the Sig-Sauer out. As if on some silent signal, the rats charged, their evil red eyes glaring madly at me. I shot into the mass of furry bodies and heard squeals of pain as my bullet impacted. There was a quick commotion as their fellows devoured them. I used the time to scramble up the fire escape, gun still in my hand. I heard someone yell, "DOWN!" and I ducked to feel the heat of flames as it blew by my face. I smelled burnt hair and flesh and felt my insides churn. But I was Alice, heap big zombie re-killer and I did not throw up. I followed Sherry's dress into the window as the little girl disappeared inside the fourth floor. I slammed the window closed behind me and stopped, giving my eyes time to adjust. There were eighteen people in this small room, not counting Chris, Claire or Sherry. Eight women and ten men, all of them of different races and ages, the youngest, around twenty, the oldest, in his late forties. The only opening was the window behind me and a door across the room. One of the men had a flamethrower attached to his back.

"You can put that away, now," one of the men said, a guy in his thirties, with prematurely balding hair and a slight pudge around his middle. I didn't move.

"Who are you people?"

No one said anything, no one even moved. I could've asked the wall the same question for all the good it did me. Anger flashed across my face. I was sick of this. Chris could play his little games but unless I got an answer soon I was gone. I felt the coming darkness with a sense I didn't remember having. Chris moved suddenly, halting in front of the guy with the flamethrower and they spoke quickly in hushed voices, like I couldn't hear them if I wanted to. And I wanted to.

"-Need to meet the contact," Chris said urgently.

"She doesn't want to see anyone right now," the man's voice was hard, not open to discussion.

Like I needed to okay it with him. I moved quickly, getting past him before the man could even move. I was out the door before he realized he had a way to stop me. This room was bigger than the first by half. And darker. Someone suddenly flipped the lights on and I was blinded.