Author's Notes: I can't stress the whole r&r thing enough people, as I tend to lose the will to write if people don't review lol: 0… Also, can people please tell me if they want Leon to be good or 'evil' as he crops up later on, and the story could work both ways…

Some memories are best left forgotten. Like loss. Loss isn't a thing that I want to hold onto, loss is a thing that I've been trying to discard. Remove. Burn form my memory.

That's why I wanted to forget the next second, because from that spawned every gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and emotionally traumatic experience that I have ever had the good fortune to live through. Although I wouldn't pat myself on the back for it.

I can picture the scene perfectly in my head, playing it over and over until the image starts to crack and the voices start to bleed into one another. It's become a dream, stuck on an endless cycle, reminding me of where it all went wrong. A nightmare. Except that it didn't seem like a nightmare at the time, at least not to start with.

Getting out of the copter the moisture in the air instantly hit me, clinging to the tiny hairs on my arms as I un-holstered my handgun. It was cold. My breath steamed in front of me while the wind blew the faint scent of pine and burnt rubber into my face. I looked up from my position near the helicopter, and saw her standing in front of me, face slightly turned towards the forest. I remember her telling me that she always liked the forest, said her mom used to take her there before she died…

There was something about her though, her guard, her position, as she stood and stared. Believe me, I should know. Since she died all I've ever done, every day of every second is try to remember all the little things that she used to do; how she walked, how she talked, the way she flared her nose when she was angry, how she… how she was. How she always was.

She'll never be that again, she'll never be alive.

So, when I looked at her I knew that something was wrong. It was too much of a coincidence for us both to be worried about the exact same thing at the exact same time with out any grounding for our fear. Kindred spirits you could call it, or maybe just common sense. When we were both worried there was usually reason, and it's not like either of us could scare easily.

Still, I ignored it, kept my fears contained within myself. Maybe if I'd voiced them, more people would be alive today. Maybe she'd be alive today, but that's too much to hope for.

When we finally got moving my fears had subsided and I was feeling a little better about everything. It was stupid, I know, but I think that manly bravado started to kick in again and told me what I wanted to hear.

There was nothing to worry about.

We searched in an arrowhead formation, a classic of search and rescue ops, with Joseph taking point and Wesker and Barry bringing up the rear. The forest was quiet, with the only noise coming from our own boots crunching the rotten leaves underfoot.

First sign, when you expect noise and there's silence, something, somewhere has been fucked with.

And I expected noise, though now I'm not sure why. Not anything deafening, but something, some sign that other people were alive out there. Maybe hushed voices, or screams or cries, or… a sign. Any sign. A trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow for god sakes would've been handy.

I don't even remember who I was following. A mist had descended and I'd lost my bearings, couldn't even see Joseph a few feet in front of me. I just carried on walking, unknowing of what was in front of me. I guess I thought I'd lead myself back to the copter, or maybe even stumble upon the bravo team, sitting silently tending to their wounds after the crash. Or her. Maybe if 'd run into her then the next thing that happened wouldn't have been such a shock.

It was silent, before. Even more so than when I was walking round aimlessly in the fog. It could've only been for a second, but it seemed to stretch onwards, permeating my eardrums and deafening me but still in total silence. At the time, that silence was the worst thing that I had ever heard.

Until she screamed, and loss had made its first appearance.

Chapter Notes: Du, du deeeeeeer……! Ok people, your probably getting annoyed with the she all the way through, but I promise that there's a perfectly good explanation for it. Also, thanks for your reviews ( I hope that this chapter was a little less confusing :)