Bianca: Wow, you read through all those chapters quickly! I must say I'm impressed. I don't think I could read so much so quickly myself.

Kingfish: Thank you for your criticism. You must be a really experienced writer (or reader) to recognize right away that I NEVER edit my chapters. I always figured there was something lacking in this story, especially near the beginning, but you've cleared it up a little more for me. But man, you sure know how to compliment, too!

JojoOh, I'm still following the game – just with an extra character thrown in. So I guess you know what's going to happen in this chapter! Though … not everything …

E-Z B: Well, I have nothing to spoil for anyone so I will let you know about my future plans. At this point in time, I have absolutely no plans for a sequel to this fic. The main reason is because there are no other Resident Evil games to cover right now. The fourth installment is due early next year so perhaps I will write a short sequel covering that game. But like I said, I have nothing planned right now. Well … unless you count Act 5 as a sequel. It takes place exactly one month after this fic, but of course, it IS a Street Fighter fic. Oh, and Act 5 is actually a re-write, meant to replace "Other Worlds," just to let you know.

JanoHere's the next chapter! Rather quick timing, I'd say, knowing my writing habits.

Angel: Thank you! I'm searching for an adequate walking cane, now that I've reach the ripe old 21 years of age. I shudder at the thought. Yes, this story is ending … the next chapter will be the last. And I honestly never thought it would never be finished because of its slow start. But all the reviews have kept me writing, and I must say I'm quite happy with the support I've gained. I've got a lot of loose ends to tie up so the last chapter will be relatively long compared to the other chapters of this story.

Emma: It's funny how people throw the word cliffhanger around left and right. Was it THAT bad of a cliffhanger? I just wanted to get a little suspense going on … but having people aching for another chapter, that's a little stronger than what I intended. Hehe, sorry!

XXXXX

"Wesker!!!" Chris bellowed in rage, cutting the silence with his booming voice. Wesker was gone. I could no longer see him and I was sure it wasn't just my fading vision. My hands were cold … or numb, I couldn't tell. The black spots that I saw gradually grew larger and larger. My heart thumped around in my chest, sending waves of pain into my head. And then I began shaking … I was terrified. I didn't want to die. But yet I could feel death close in from all around me, slowly claiming my senses from me all at once. Chris's voice was distant, though he stood a mere three feet away.

"D…don't leave me …" I pleaded weakly. And then I saw Chris, crouched down and looking sympathetically at me. His mouth moved but his voice was so far away. He scooped my head into his palm and continued talking.

"It's gonna be alright, don't worry about a thing," I heard him say.

"I … I'm going to …" I said in between deep breaths.

"No!" he shouted at me. "Don't you even say that!"

I shook my head. "I didn't side with Umbrella," I insisted. I knew I'd already told him everything, but I just wanted him to have no doubts. Chris had to be absolutely sure. I didn't want to be remembered as a traitor – because I never was. "You … you know I'd … never side with …" the gasps were more often now, deeper too.

"I understand," Chris reassured. "Just stay here and rest. I'm going after Claire and Wesker."

"No …" I gripped his arm tightly, not willing to let go. I knew it was selfish of me, but dying alone in this dark, dank prison wasn't something I wanted to have happen to me.

Chris took my wrist and turned it so that my palm was facing him. With his other hand, he placed a folded sheet of paper. "It's a mixed herb cocktail," he explained. "Open your mouth." I obeyed. He took the paper out of my hand and held it over my face, tipping it gently so that the dry herb powder slid in a steady stream into my mouth. "Don't swallow until it's all gone," he advised. My first reaction was to spit out the foul tasting powder. My face crinkled into an expression of disgust. "Don't spit, just swallow!" When there was nothing left to go into my mouth, I clenched my jaw and forced the vile concoction down my throat. "You're in pretty bad shape, so it'll take awhile for the effects to kick in. But I don't want you to move from this spot."

"It's not like I can," I said, suddenly feeling better. But I still felt like I wasn't in any shape to follow him anyway.

"Here's a handgun," Chris offered, placing the firearm in my hand. "If any zombies try and get to you, just aim for their head. It's fully loaded so you should have enough time to defend yourself until I get back."

The next thing I heard was his footsteps scurrying off. I clutched the gun close to my chest. My senses were no longer fading, although it would take a ridiculously long time for them to fully return, until my body could re-produce the amount of blood I lost. There was definitely a blue herb in that herb cocktail. It had medicinal and hemostatic abilities, thickening my blood so that it would clog the wound in my back. I continued lying there in the darkness, hearing distant explosions, one occurring after the other. The place was going to blow up soon, just like Raccoon City. Though unlike that encounter, I was far enough away from the underground lab before the self destruct sequence kicked in. This time, I was lying helplessly on the grungy floor. I prayed silently that Chris and Claire would come back soon and get us the hell out of this place.

As if my prayers had been answered, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching where I lay. My first instincts told me that it was Claire and Chris, but there was no way he'd be able to fend off Wesker that successfully, was there? Wesker was some sick creature with super human abilities. Chris was just a man. Yes, I could fight off Wesker, but that was due to the Shadow Technology inside my body. But Chris didn't have any sort of ability he could take advantage of.

Having decided there was no logical possibility that he could've returned so quickly with Claire, I began wondering whose footsteps I was hearing. Zombies? No, they were too quick. I tried pulling myself up, but the simple act of lifting my head off the ground caused the stars and black spots to make their triumphant return into my vision. Something wasn't right with the situation. Who were these people on their way here? Then I noticed the pool of my own blood I was lying in … maybe I could … play dead?

I quickly closed my eyes and sprawled out my arms on the floor and just lay there. I was probably pale from all the blood loss, so I bet I was a pretty convincing corpse.

"Beginning obtaining the T Veronica Virus," someone said.

"He should be just a few feet ahead according to Wesker," another voice followed.

My heart leapt into my chest when I heard their footsteps on the ground close to where I was lying. There were in the same room! I began to panic instinctively. It took a great deal of effort to keep myself dead, as panic probably wasn't good for me at this point.

"How are we gonna get the sample out of here, through this emergency elevator?" one of the soldiers asked, tapping the call button with his finger.

"Someone made a mess," another gruff voice noted, probably after looking at me. "Is he the T Veronica Virus sample Wesker was talking about?"

"I doubt it," someone else replied. "This guy is pretty dead looking…"

"Over here! I've found him!" The footsteps left the room where I lay and into the jail cell that Claire and I escaped from earlier. They wanted to take Steve! Should I try and stop them? No … I had barely started recovering. My brave antic would probably get me killed. And Steve was already dead. But what could Wesker's men want with Steve? The T Veronica Virus? I couldn't afford to let them get their hands on Steve.

It was a stupid decision, I know now. But I raised my arm without them noticing, and shot the closest soldier in the calf. The bullet entered quickly, producing a small spray of blood from the impact. He screamed as he fell to the floor, clutching his leg.

"Holy shit, that guy's still alive!" It was the squad leader who said that. I could tell just by the uniform he wore. He had black armor plating on his chest, nd matching joint pads. His head was hidden under an elaborate biker looking elmet. The uniforms of the other soldiers resembled his, minus the helmet. For he first time I saw them. They ranged from their thirties to forties. All of their faces bore deep wrinkles, some had rough beards, others had short or hair or shaved heads. But they all looked like they were ready to kill me.

"Shoot!" the leader commanded. Every soldier raised their gun with fluid speed, but almost instantly, a stray bullet ricocheted off one of their guns, knocking it right out of the man's hands. BANG, BANG, BANG! Another three shots were fired, each one with perfect aiming, until every soldier was crouched on the floor, gripping their wrists, their faces in twisted masks of pain.

"Don't touch him," a feminine voice threatened.

"Claire!" I cried out of relief. But the soldiers then withdrew their own personal semi-automatic rifles from the heavy packs they wore on their backs and aimed again.

"Holy shit, let's book it!" Claire screamed, picking me up off the floor swiftly. We landed painfully into the emergency elevator. Apparently, it had just arrived after one of the soldiers hit the switch earlier. Claire leapt to her feet and began frantically pressing the close button as we were showered with a hail of bullets. One of them hit me. The right side of my body, just under the rib cage, exploded in a world of pain as I sat on the floor of the elevator. I clutched my side and just remembered screaming.

"They got me!" Fortunately, the heavy metal doors closed and apparently, they were bullet proof too. The elevator began rising with a smooth, calm electric hum.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I've been shot!" I cried. "I've never been SHOT before!" The blood was coming out of my side now, instead of my back. "Oh my GAWD!"

"Here," Claire offered, reaching for the pant leg of my jumpsuit. "This material is a little tough to rip.

" I painfully reached for the collar of my jumpsuit and unzipped it down to my chest. "Take some fabric from my collar," I said. She agreed, reached for my collar and tore a clean white strip from my T-shirt I wore underneath.

"I need more," she said, reaching into my jump suit again. She took the strips of fabric and tied them together, albeit with a little difficulty from the bumpy elevator ride. She took the long strip and wrapped it around my body, being sure to apply as much pressure as she could to the wound as I shouted profanities to nobody in particular. "Be quiet!" Claire demanded. "It's hard to concentrate with your screaming!"

I just shot her a death look. "I just got SHOT with a goddamn bullet!" I repeated. "It HURTS!!"

"Alright," she said, putting her hands up in the air, "I'm sorry."

"You're not done wrapping yet." She rolled her eyes at me and continued. A short moment of silence ensued, giving me ample time to take note of the ridiculously long elevator ride. I guess there was some logic behind it. This was an emergency elevator built to handle masses of people during an evacuation. And their safety would come first. Having an elevator moving at ridiculously high speeds with large groups of people spelt a lot of queasy stomachs and perhaps even some injuries, which would defeat the whole purpose of a safe evacuation.

"You know," Claire said, after a quick chuckle, "you look a lot like Leon when we first escaped Raccoon City."

"Uh … how?"

"He had bandages wrapped around himself too, after he got shot by Annette," she explained.

"Who's Annette?"

"That's Sherry's mother."

"Sherry. Was she the girl that was with Leon just after the explosion?" Claire nodded. "You guys got into that fight … did you ever make up?"

"We're a team, fighting for the same cause. So we're pretty formal with each other. I think he may still be mad at me though, I'm not sure. I haven't really spoken to him much … on a personal basis, anyway."

The elevator came to a complete stop, interrupting our conversation. "I think we're there. Help me up." She put a hand under each of my armpits and helped me hoist myself to my feet. "You said there was an airplane hangar. Do you remember where it is? That's the only place Chris would've left the jet he took to get over here."

"Turn left," I directed, noting that we were back on the very same walkway that the pilot and I entered the facility from. And this was the same walkway I saw from a few floors down, where Chris faced off with Alexia Ashford. My curiosity getting the better of me, I walked over to the edge and I placed my hands on the railings and leaned my head over, getting a good look at what lay below. There were swarms of strange mutant ants crawling around down there. They were pretty far down, but large enough for me to make out their forms. Not wanting to know what they looked like up close, I headed for the door to the right of the elevator, tagging behind Claire.

"That must be Chris's plane," Claire said, pointing at a fighter jet that stood about a storey under yet another metal walkway that we were standing on. There was a ladder that led straight into the cockpit of the vehicle.

"There are three people who need to get out of here. How are we going to squeeze into that two person plane?"

"I guess we're gonna have to do just that," Claire said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "We get to be comfortable in the back seat while Chris pilots the plane."

"You think Steve would mind?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at Claire with a mischievous grin spreading across my lips. But that only earned me a hard elbow from Claire.

"I'm not a cougar," she said, turning in the opposite direction. "I was just joking."

"Oh," I continued, trying to get the better of her, "I know you wanna nab the sex-ay kid from the cradle."

"If you hadn't been shot …" she threatened, but then decided to drop it. "Now's not the time to be messing around. Come on, get in." She climbed down the ladder with me following. When Claire reached the plane, she strapped herself in the back seat and then looked up at me. "What are you waiting for?" she asked. She patted her lap. "Come on!"

"Stop treating me like a baby," I said, joining her in the back seat, sitting on her lap. Claire wrapped her arms around my waist to keep me steady.

"God, I hope its not a long flight. This could get pretty uncomfortable after awhile."

"Better than if our roles were reversed …" I mumbled absent mindedly.

"Excuse me?! Are you calling me -"

God himself could not have timed the following explosion better. It was powerful enough to shake the entire hangar, sending little bits of debris down on me and Claire.

"I hope Chris makes it here quickly!" I said, covering my head.

"He has to make it!" Claire added. "He promised me."

"In this kind of situation, it's hard to keep such a risky promise!" Another explosion, this time closer. Probably from a level or two below.

"Chris always keeps his word!" Claire insisted, over the booming noise. It was like a miniature earthquake, the ground was trembling so severely, threatening to spill the jet over. Claire and I hugged each other tightly for comfort, and for safety from the falling debris.

"Claire," I said into her ear, still having to shout over the noise, "if we don't make it out of here alive, I just want you to know that I'm thankful I ran into you over at Rockfort."

"Please, Kenny," she replied, "don't talk like this. I don't want to die right now. I don't …"

"GAAAHH!!" Another explosion occurred, from somewhere in the same room as a heavy piece of debris clipped the plane on the nose. Claire and I screamed, pulling our heads closer together.

"Look at the both of you, holding onto each other like kids," Chris's voice mocked. "Someone's gotta play the hero and get you out of here."

"Chris!" Claire and I declared with happiness and relief at the same time. The large piece of debris that hit the plane's nose was actually Chris himself.

"I … I thought you …" Claire sobbed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Hey, I always keep my promises," Chris said, winking. "Good to see the herbs worked on you, Kenny."

"Yeah, it's great," I mumbled, "but let's just talk later and fly NOW!"

XXXXX

The explosion from the base was magnificent. Right before developing into a giant mushroom cloud, it glowed so brilliantly, the resulting light lit up even the crisp, clear morning sky. The jet took of fairly quickly, a lot faster than I ever expected a jet to go. Then again, I'd never flown in one before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The ascent into the sky was endured in complete silence – aside from the intense screaming of the plane's engines. I glimpsed at the clear blue sky for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. There were little cotton clouds floating leisurely in that sea of baby blue. And I can honestly say in that moment, it felt good to be alive.

"Chris," Claire said, breaking the quiet atmosphere, "please don't … don't ever leave me alone again."

"I'm sorry, Claire," Chris replied, "but I had some things to take care of." She leaned forward and put her hand on his shoulder, with me crushed between her body and the back of Chris's seat. "Umbrella has to be taken out, once and for all. And Kenny, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for a lot of things. I should've believed you when you told me Wesker was alive. And I shouldn't have just jumped to the conclusion that you had sided with Umbrella. You were loyal to our cause from the moment you set foot on Rockfort. Thinking that you had joined Umbrella for real based on a five minute conversation was stupid, especially after all the months you've given me inside information on the Rockfort facility."

"It's alright," I said, shrugging. "I'm just glad this is all over."

"No," Claire countered, "it's not. As long as Umbrella is still around, it will never be over."

"And we'll need all the help we can get," Chris added.

"You'll have me there," I offered. "I'll do everything I can to …"

"No," Chris insisted. "Go to school, Kenny. Get an education, a good job, and just enjoy your freedom."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Chris had just said that they were going to need all the help they could get, and I was willing to help. And now he wasn't taking me up on my offer?

"But I'll be useful to your cause! I'm properly trained, I've got this Shadow shit inside me … how wouldn't I be able to help?"

"Your support would once again expose you to Umbrella," Chris explained. "And technically, your name is still in their system. You are a registered Umbrella agent. As it is, with the destruction of the Rockfort facility, it would only be natural for them to assume you're dead. You're free from their hold. Besides, even if they somehow managed to take you back, and you continued your undercover work for us within their facilities, it'll only be a matter of time before they find out. And who knows what they'll do to you."

"And Umbrella already has developed bio-organic weapons of mass destruction," Claire added. "Imagine what they could do with the bio-technology within you, Kenny. I don't even want to think about it."

"For your safety, and ours, stay out of this fight," Chris advised. "You took a great risk by working at Rockfort. If you were to get involved again, you'd get sucked into the matter. Don't try and spread the word about Umbrella's activities. They have spies lurking in every corner of the government system. You'll only draw attention to yourself. Just … please … continue living your life. Get as far away from Umbrella as possible. Like I said, you're free now."

"I have nothing to continue living my life with …" I said. "Everything I had was at Rockfort. And before that, my life was in Raccoon City. Both have been completely annihilated."

"If that's the case, then I suppose we could always help organize a place for you to stay," Chris suggested.

Suddenly, a very strange idea popped into my head. I'd been living in America for at least two years up to that point. And yet I never ever considered returning to my birthplace. "That won't be necessary," I said. "I think …" The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to appeal to me. "I think I'll return back to Osaka."

Claire's eyes widened. "Osaka, as in Japan?"

"Yeah," I replied, nodding excitedly. "I used to live there before moving over to America. I just might be able to resettle there."

"That's … far away," Claire said, drooping her head slightly. "But like Chris said, I should continue living my life and get as far away from Umbrella as possible, right?"

"Man, I don't think I meant it literally, though," Chris said rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, if that's good for you, it's good for us. It's just that … well …"

"We're going to miss you," Claire finished.

How was it she could find it in herself to say that? I'd only met Claire twice in the three months I was even aware of her existence. But when I thought about it, I realized that although during those months, our paths rarely crossed, they were definitely traveled alongside each other, with the same goal – to take down Umbrella. And with Chris, I'd known him since I started volunteering at the Raccoon City precinct, long before there was even any mention of a cannibal murder. Given that, wasn't hard for me to find the same words Claire said to me within myself, "I'll miss you all too …"