Authors Note: Longer chapter than the first one. The usual warnings, contains profane language, violence and adult situations.

Resident Evil: Forgotten Dreams

I slide a hand along the rail of the metal walkway we're striding along. Below us, deeper into the rebellion's core, there are thousands of other walkways with thousands of people walking along them. As I watch them going about their business, I wonder what's going through their heads, if they have realized how fucked they are.

"Keyes is gonna kick our ass," says Leon beside me over the clanking of our footsteps. "He was expecting us to find a lot of shit."

"Well, we found the body of a fellow forager, he can't murder us completely," I reply, though I'm guessing Leon's right. Keyes was gonna be pissed.

And at that very moment, a door to our right, against the wall swings open, and out the Captain stalks, face red, twisted in rage.

"I can't believe you two!" he fumes, kicking the railing, making it rattle. Some people below us look up.

"Captain – " Leon starts to say, but Keyes cuts him off.

"I send two of my best men out to find infected material and what do I get! NOTHING BUT A BODY!" Keyes screams in rage. "GET THE FUCK INTO MY OFFICE RIGHT NOW!"

A mother below us covers her kids ears and stalks away, her brow furrowed. Embarrassed, Leon and I shoot looks at each other, before following the enraged Captain into his office.

I shut the door behind us quietly, and turn to see Leon walking to the Captain's desk. Keyes is forcibly white knuckling the side of the desk, trying to keep his anger in.

"Captain, it wasn't our fault. Jesus Christ, we found Cecil's body. You've been wanting to find him for weeks!"

"Oh, you think I should be happy about this shit!" shouts Keyes. He swipes several papers off his desk, then collapses in his chair. "Vegas is totally fucked, like the rest of the world then, like we thought."

We sense him calming down, and sit down across the desk, facing him. We let him breath for a few seconds, before explaining what had happened.

"We don't know how many are still up there, but some might have seen us go down here through the entrance. If that's the case, we need to send some more guards up there with Yevin tonight just in case a few zombies come try to break in."

"I doubt they would try it, they're stupid these days," says Keyes resignedly. He rubs his hands together, clasps them over his desk and says "where do we go from here?"

Leon looks over at me with raised eyebrows and I sigh. He wants me to talk about taking back the surface. But I know and so does he that if that is brought up that the Captain will blow sky high again.

"We aren't exactly sure," I say, taking action. "There's no point in lingering here. We should try to go down to the Panama if we could arrange – "

"The resistance isn't stretched down that far, its only the north of the US. We'd have to travel on the surface," Keyes cuts in quickly. "Unless you want to die, I suggest we think of something else."

Leon grinds his teeth impatiently. He doesn't like being contradicted despite the Captains superior position to us. He grips the sides of his chair hard, restraining his impatience. "Well then what do you suggest we do?" he growls.

"Since it would be closer, we could try to go up to Canada and see what's going on up there. Hell, anywhere would be better than staying in the middle north. We already know what's going on here – "

"With all due respect, Captain, things are most likely the same up there. The virus first spread from north to south, so its likely that it was infected and destroyed long before here," I say, cutting him off too. But I feel that I should stay respectful, since he's one of the second in command for the entire resistance.

"Well if you really expect to get to the Panama, then you'll have to travel underground all the way down to Texas in rollercar, then trek it all the way down through Middle America. Are you willing to do that?" asks Keyes.

I glance over to Leon. He looks at me. We stare at each other for a second, contemplating what it means to go down south. Then we both wordlessly turn back to the Captain.

"Yes," Leon says simply.

"Then get ready, you can go in an hour. I'll get a car ready."

Twenty minutes later, Leon and I arrive at our temporary room, situated about a football field down from Keyes's office. As I push the steel door open, Leon lays a hand on my shoulder, and says "are we ready for this?"

I look over at him, past his curtain of brown hair, and say with all honesty, "I don't know. But what the hell, we aren't doin' shit around here, we might as well try to make contact with anyone still alive. Haven't you ever thought about the possibility of the virus never crossing over to South America?"

"Well, yeah, but its pretty fuckin' likely that they're screwed down there, too. Why would the virus not get down there?"

"Dunno. But like I said, we aren't doin' shit around here, so lets try something new to help out the resistance. We may get flayed, but then again we may just get lucky, too."

Leon snorts. "Luck. Fuck luck. We haven't been lucky for ten years. If I had just blown up the mansion … "

"Leon, don't go down that road again. It wasn't your fault. You had good reason to leave it up. Don't forget that you were the one who incinerated half the fuckers in that place."

"Yes, but the place itself had the virus smeared all over it. I should have realized that this would happen!" snaps Leon, slamming a fist into the metal wall beside our door.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. If you really were to blame, then I would be with you 100 on it. But you aren't. It couldn't be helped. Lets just pack our things and forget about the past. Look forward, not backward."

I give him a light slap on the face. He smirks, and gives me one too.

"Come on, lets get ready."