Author's Notes: My first shot at doing blood and gore is coming up, so I hope you enjoy it, and that I wrote it as passable hehehe… r&r if you would be so kind

I froze. The sound of her screaming literally anchored me to the spot, sending a sickening shiver up my spine. I wanted to run, to help. More than anything I wanted to be there for her, at her side. But I just couldn't move. I couldn't do anything; I even had to remind myself to breathe after a few seconds. It was that bad. I was that scared of what I might find.

Of course, Mr. Pessimistic Redfield would have you believe that she was dead the second the scream ended, with no one around to see the few final sparks of life that she had to show. I couldn't let myself believe that, even though a part of me always thought that the worst would happen, no matter what.

On the other hand, the optimist in me, the part of me that was connected to her on a level beyond the physical knew that she wasn't dead. I knew that because if she'd died then I'd have been there to shoot the bastard who did it, or protect her in the first place. Protect her, now that's a joke. I'm the joke…

I think that that was the part of me that got me moving again, and before I could take another breath, I was running, blindly running in the direction of that last sound. I prayed that it wasn't her last sound, I prayed that I wasn't too late.

I had this 'scenario' playing in my mind you see. I ran in, guns blazing, the classic night on horseback ready to save his damsel in distress. Things never play out the way that you imagined them…

After too short a time I reached my destination and what I saw played out in front of me as if it were in slow motion, my focus seemingly lingering on the smallest of things to distract me from the bigger picture.

My first loss, well, apart from my parents anyway…

Good thing was… what am I saying?… the best thing was that she wasn't the one who I had lost. Not this time. You don't know how it feels to believe that you'd lost someone, someone you'd loved, and to see them standing there right in front of you never wanting to feel like you'd lost them again. Difference is now that I have lost her, and for Wesker to…

…to do that, after being her captain, someone she respected… it's agony to think of…

But that's not important at the moment. I've got a story to tell, and a story needs a timeline and right now I'm not sticking to it so I'll just get to the point.

When I arrived at the clearing, expecting my heart to be torn out and shredded to pieces in front of me, I found her standing there, pointing her gun off into the trees. If I'd had more time to stop and think about what I was seeing, then I probably wouldn't have believed it. But everything happened too quickly, so quickly that my mind didn't seem to see what my eyes did. I could only think in the simple terms, comprehend the simplest of ideas for fear of my mind overloading; she was alive, and for that point in time, that was good enough.

In the clearing there were a group of animals, dogs, feeding on something on the floor, ripping it apart as though it were a piece of meat from the slaughter house. That's what she was aiming for. I suppose if I was a normal person who didn't thrive on instinctive feelings, then I would've wondered why she was shooting at a pack of wild dogs. I'd always liked dogs, they were always the loyalist of pets, and brought back memories of my childhood, even though I didn't have greatest time when I was young…

But, as my life was pretty much ruled by instinct back then, for the most part, I ran forward with the intention of helping her out. Besides I didn't know the whole situation. Maybe one of the dogs had bitten her, or scratched her or maybe they'd…

When I got closer I saw the entire situation with perfect clarity, like before the sound had been on mute and someone had just suddenly cranked the volume up high. The dogs weren't normal. Weren't normal. That's a fucking lie. They were seriously messed up, walked in like they'd pretty much been hand-picked straight out of Carpenter horror movie, all dripping fangs and foaming at the mouth, matted fur hanging off the bone, exposing bloody muscle and sinew. Then I saw what they were eating, and the horror movie suddenly became very real.

Joseph. Joseph Frost. A team member. A friend.

Forgive me if I don't sound as upset as I should but it was a long time ago in my eyes, and he was the first in a long line of losses, and believe me, the ones that followed were infinitely more painful to cope with. What really got me was the simple disregard for his life, how these things had waltzed in and taken a life, not really knowing what they were doing cause they were animals and they had instincts to follow, right?

Like me. I followed my instincts. I didn't feel secure anymore and knew that I had to act.

Pulling my gun out I took aim and fired at the creature in front of me. I've always been a good shot, and that label paid off, hitting it right between the eyes. It fell instantly, brain matter patterning the tree behind. She fell to her knees too, face caught with the spray of gore, momentarily stunned by what she had seen. I can't say that I wasn't caught off guard too, but that instinct deep inside me told me to run, get away, get her away, before we became the meal to Joseph's appetiser.

I made a grab for her arm, pulling her from the forest floor and telling her to run, although I don't think she needed much persuasion. Strange that in a situation like that I noticed such a little thing as touching her arm, but whenever I touched her I kind of got this volatile electricity that passed through me, like she was a drug and I was addicted. Strange, I know, but now I think I remember ever time I touched her cause I'll never do it again. Strange…

We were running through the trees and somehow they were chasing us. She'd emptied a whole fucking clip into them for fuck sakes and they were still coming after us. So naturally the pessimist in me knew that they would catch us. Unfortunately I had to agree with him, as we were running all out and they were mere feet behind us.

I heard gun shots to my right, laud raucous shots, that could only have come from Barry's magnum. My heart skipped a little knowing that I still had some friends left, but it sank even more when I noticed dark shadows dashing through the trees. They were chasing him too.

We were almost out of options.

Finding the mansion seemed too good to be true, like it had been placed there to solely act as our sanctuary. A mirage, or perhaps hell in disguise. But we were out of options, and I didn't want to be dog food. Now I wish I'd taken my chances.

Despite my better judgement I found myself shouting to the others to head for the mansion. Despite myself, I followed.

How many times have I told you Redfield, always trust your instincts?

I was about to find out.

Enter the survival horror…

Dd-

Chapter Notes: ok how was that? Personally I really liked writing that chapter, and went over a page more than I usually do. Also note the sly little hint I dropped about Jill's future death (you may have to look really carefully!) and the reference to the remake with the last line. As always r&r people and I'll see y'all in the next chapter ( -Dd- stands for dustdevil if you were wondering…) (Duh!)