Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Chapter 2: Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil, or the characters and or creatures; besides any original characters and or creatures I may add into the story.

A/N: Wow. I didn't expect to get so many reviews so quick! O.O But that's not a bad thing! God no, that's a good thing, keep 'em coming! Thanks very much to the reviewers for taking the time to review, and read my fan fiction, I hope you continue to do so. I also wanted to tell you about a problem I ran into with my last chapter. I said I would show time skipping with three stars, (the shift of the eight key on your keyboard), but for some reason it wouldn't show the three stars. So for now on, any time skipping will be told by double spacing between paragraphs as opposed to one.

Hmm…one more thing before chapter 2 starts, I don't know if my update is slow or not, you tell me reviewers! And if you do think so, it's only because I try to check it over at least twice and add a bit more too it.

That's all, on too the story!

The wooden stairs creaked under his boots and his weight. Slowly he walked up the stairs, not really knowing why he even came; was it to see her again? Or did he feel a responsibility in this situation? It was a bit of both truthfully.

Billy reached the top of the stairs, handgun at the ready, a clip loaded into it, two more in his utility belt, and a knife sheathed on his left hip, he knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park. Luckily this area wasn't infected too bad, a few of the flesh-eaters here and there, but it wasn't anything to panic about…at least not for someone who'd been trapped in a mansion full of them. But who knew what sort of twisted abominations roamed the streets. What sort of being could just as well be around the next corner…waiting…hungry…angry perhaps?

Billy shook his thoughts away. No time to get nervous…gotta' stay focused…

The hallway was dark; the lights were either switched off, or not working. Besides a few potted plants sitting atop small antique tables, it was empty. The setting sun threw beams of reddish-orange light into the room that illuminated the hall with a red glow. It would be too time consuming, and possibly dangerous, to check every single one, so…

"Rebecca!" Billy moved down the hallway as he called her name, staying alert of his surroundings, handgun slightly raised in the air.

Jesus Christ, Billy! Nice move! Better hope there's nothing in here. It'll be on your ass like a hungry dog on a piece of meat. Once again Billy shook the thoughts away. He noticed that his conscious, or whatever was talking too him, reflected himself in a way…

A door creaked opened a few doors down the corridor behind him. Spinning around quickly, reflexes taking over, he took aim at the wooden door marked with a brass number five, put his finger firmly on the trigger, tensed, and…

…Lowered the gun, at the same time grinning at the woman standing a few doors down from him. He let out a quiet sigh of relief. "Rebecca…" Billy holstered the handgun and walked over to her. She'd changed only the slightest bit, her facial features still appeared youthful, but she'd…matured. Her body becoming more curving, more feminine. Her was hair still the same as it had been seven years ago. He couldn't say much though; he looked pretty much the same too.

She was wearing a chocolate colored denim jacket, a shapeless sleeveless white shirt that exposed just the least bit of her abdomen and low-rise dark blue jeans, once again shapeless with the bells folded past her ankles. Topped off with fingerless gloves, high top boots, a red headband which was actually a bandanna hiding mousy bangs, and a utility belt.

Rebecca smiled softly at him. "It's been awhile, huh?"

Billy nodded.

Silence. For a long time they looked at each other, both grinning.

Rebecca laughed, her eyes tearing, and she embraced him. He returned the embrace and they stood there for a moment.

Jill was surprised at the appearance of Washington D.C. It was a total ghost town. And in a way resembled the appearance of Raccoon City before it had been destroyed. Abandoned cars were left on the streets here and there, a few scattered dead bodies, a few blockades in the streets. But it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Raccoon had been, no way anything would get that bad again…hopefully.

She drove the SUV through the empty streets at a crawling pace, scanning the buildings as she passed them slowly, hopefully the destination would be found before sunset, which was only a few hours away. The buildings were empty. The entire city was empty. A few of the undead had shown themselves since Jill and Barry entered the city, nothing serious. Maybe everyone evacuated before it got too bad…or maybe they're all just hiding, the zombies. Waiting for the right time to strike. Their not that smart though, no way they could create some sort of strategy. Keep in mind they don't even know how to open a door.

The ex-S.T.A.R.S. looked over at her old partner, Barry Burton, sitting there, one hand on the grip of his Colt Python, the other was fiddling with a single bullet for the powerful gun. She frowned; her worries about the zombies and such were replaced by worries for her good friend who lost everything to those Umbrella lunatics.

Barry was nervous. The mansion and escaping Raccoon City was enough excitement for ten lifetimes…but somehow he felt he needed to lend a hand in this situation. Both him and Jill agreed on it, agreed that they'd have no regrets doing what they could in this situation, besides, an old friend asked them to lend a hand. He stared out of the passenger window, his face a blank mask. This whole thing was creepy; the whole thing was a long shot. Him and Jill would both agree on that. There were no guarantees that they could survive this time. It reminded him too much of Raccoon City. The day following the Estate incident was etched into his mind. Night after night he lost sleep because of it.

Flash

Barry stepped onto the porch of his home. Right after his wounds were treated he headed home; despite the fact that Chief Irons called him back to the RPD ASAP.

Regardless of the apocalyptic feel of Raccoon City at the moment, he was cheerful. Even though he was fully aware that the undead were rising in numbers and walking the streets, he was overly excited. He could finally see his family after that long night in the mansion…was it even only one night that he was trapped in the mansion? Who cares! He could see his wife Kathy, and his two daughters Moira and Poly Anne again!

Barry knocked and the door creaked open slowly. Something he least expected. He noted quickly that the frame of the doorway was cracked. Someone had…kicked the door open? Maybe police had evacuated them, had to do it quickly, didn't have time to knock…

But the long thin lines in the door told different. Something was scratching at the door, peeling the wooden doors' paint off in the process, something was trying desperately to get in…

Barry didn't waste time, he pushed the door open the rest of the way, it opened into a dark living room, a couch was overturned, bloody handprints smeared over it. A few overturned lamps, a few bloody prints on the wall, everything was quite eerie and made Barry worry. Removing the Colt from its holster he closed the door behind him, the room turned dark, only a few rays of light lit the room.

"Kathy! Moira! Poly!" No response. He moved further into the house, in a hallway was the dead form of one of those flesh-eating monsters. Blood was splattered against the wall, the rug stained with a thick layer of the red liquid. The zombies' head had been bashed in by something multiple times, to the point to where it was inhuman looking…as if it had looked human before the beating…

The weapon was found down the hallway, an aluminum bat. There were smears of blood on the white walls; a few pictures had been knocked off the wall, as if something was struggling down the hall, using the walls as support.

The bathroom door was ajar down the hall, the blood ending there. Soft white light spilled out from inside the room.

Oh, Lord. Please…No…

Swallowing hard, Barry moved past the decomposed corpse of the zombie. He was moving slowly. Scared of what would be in the room. Not fear of what sort of monster was inside…but fear that they had gotten to his family. His heart beat faster at the thought. Practically feeling the blood flow from his face. Only the thought that the disgusting being's had gotten to his family had caused this…what if…what if it did happen?

With a simple tap on the door it opened into a simple bathroom. White tiled floors, white walls, everything was white, matching. Still neat. His eyes first fixed on the bloody stains smeared across the silken shower curtain, then on the miniature puddles of blood trailing from the floor to the bathtub. Barry swallowed hard again, feeling sweat roll down his face he wiped the back of his hand on his forehead. He advanced toward the bathtub, heart feeling as if it would shatter his ribcage at any moment.

On his fifth step, a sudden stench attacked his nose. He coughed, gagged, his heart beating harder yet. The smell was familiar. Oh, Jesus, it was familiar, too familiar. It was the smell that lurked through every corridor in the Spencer Estate. It was the smell of death, the smell of rot.

The aging man pulled the curtain back, bile rose up in his throat. His fear smacked him dead in the face. There was his wife, lying in murky red water, her body had lost all color and was sickly gray. Pieces of rotting flesh floated atop the water; there was a large gaping wound above her left collarbone. Her eyes were closed, as if she died peacefully.

Barry ran to the toilet, falling to his knees, and opening the lid, vomited into the toilet. After a few more minutes, Barry rose to his feet with tears streaming down his face. He was shaking, with fear, rage, and utmost anguish.

Why? Haven't I been through enough?

"What sin have I committed to deserve this?" He yelled out loud, standing there as if he expected some type of answer. He curled his large fingers into fists, knuckles turning white. His eyes and face beat red from crying. Something stirred in the water behind him. His mouth suddenly felt dry, his stomach churning violently.

Slowly her turned toward the water. A sob escaped his throat at the sight of his wife, now standing up, mouth hanging open, colorless eyes fixed on him. Her face had lost all of it's beauty, and her body lost all appeal as the flesh was rotting, falling off even as she stood there making sickly gurgling noises. She attempted to step out of the bathtub, failed, and crashed to the floor with a thud, her forehead cracking against the floor. She rose slowly back to her feet, resembling someone drunk as she stumbled around before gaining balance, a new gaping wound in her forehead, clotted blood spilling from her head in small rivulets. She stretched her arms out toward him, as if beckoning him into her arms. She swayed back and forth, a gurgling noise escaping her throat as water spilled from her rotting lips.

He raised the Colt Python, aiming between the woman's eyes. She was no more then seven feet away, almost in arms length, when he closed his eyes tight, the gun trembling in his hands. He could think of nothing better then to put her out of her misery. The sound of the shot made his ears ache, a single .357 round released from the Colt Python. The bullet blasted a hole through the bridge of her nose, and slammed into the wall behind her, cracking the tiled walls and bringing a spray of blood with it.

Flash

"Barry?" Her voice brought him back to reality, and he silently thanked her for it, he didn't want to relieve that moment any longer. Having nightmares every night was more then enough for him…

"Barry…" Jill's voice trailed off, her voice holding a hint of worry. She put her gloved hand on his own gloved hand, momentarily removing her eyes from the road and turned to him, smiling softly.

Barry turned to her, and grinned slightly. "Sorry," Barry sat up. "I was just thinking. What do you need?"

"What was the address?" She saw that the grin was forced, but nonetheless, it was Barry's trademark grin.

Barry dug into one of many pockets of a cargo vest he was wearing, bringing out a piece of folded paper. He cleared his throat, his free hand rubbing his short red beard as he began reading the address.

Chris pushed the accelerator of the vehicle as the infected attempted too surround the car, the front bumper smashing into one of the undead, the body of it flipping onto the hood, and over the side of the vehicle. Chris didn't stop, the vehicle picking up speed gradually, 50…55…60…65…

Claire's heartbeat was returning to something like normal. Despite the fact that she had encountered worse on her journey to find her brother Chris, being surrounded by those…things…wasn't exactly soothing. Claire sunk down in her seat and took a deep breath, wiping her clammy hands on her jeans.

Chris slowed to normal speed, both him and Claire noticing someone entering a motel, and it wasn't zombie. The infected couldn't open doors, and most certainly didn't know how to handle a handgun.

The smell of gasoline was constant, almost nauseating. He felt confused, one minute he was talking to Xavier, the next minute he smelt gasoline, and his head hurt.

Goddamn it hurts like a mother-

"Jeff? Yo, Jeff, you a'ight?"

Jeff stirred, his head throbbing. His thoughts erased as someone's voice resonating painfully off the inside of his skull.

"Jeff!"

Jeff stirred once more, his hand moving automatically to where his head was hurting. Finally he opened his eyes, his friend crouched down next to him, his do rag was removed from his head, and wrapped around his bicep, stained with blood. It took Jeff a moment to realize what had happened. His head still throbbed, his vision slightly blurred. He was laying not 3 feet from a bus lying on its side, a trail on the asphalt left from being dragged out of the wreckage, extended from the bus to the spot he lay. Slowly, what happened came back too him…

Flash

"…Yeah and then T-Mac got that dunk to win the game."

Jeff shrugged inwardly. "I still wish the Sixer's would've won."

Xavier shrugged. "Any luck with your girl?"

"She's not my 'girl' no more, X." He felt the eyes of a few cheerleaders and fellow basketball players looking at them, curious as too what happened between Jeff and Tara.

The conversation was cut short when the bus driver honked the horn. Xavier stood up to see what was happening. Some guy was standing in the middle of the street, totally oblivious to the fact that a large bus was speeding toward it, honking its horn. It was moving too quickly to come to a stop without hitting the guy. The bus swerved to the right to avoid hitting the man, the wheel was turned too much and…

Flash

Jeff removed his palm from his head, his bangs hanging down his forehead wildly, and his hand was stained red with blood. "Is everyone else alright?" He queried as he wiped his hand on his pants, and stood up, stumbling at first; with the help of Xavier he found his balance. He quickly found out that he was covered in small cuts, probably from glass and whatnot.

Xavier looked too the ground, and shook his head gravely as he released Jeff's forearm. "Their all dead, man. The whole team, the driver, coach, cheerleaders, everyone."

Jeff was silent, and turned back too the bus. Wondering for a moment why there was no ambulance…fire engine…police- Oh god, Tara! He still loved her…and today, today after the game he was going to fix EVERYTHING. But now…now he lost her forever. She was inside somewhere…dead.

Jeff shrunk down to his knees; he grabbed his hair and tugged lightly. He felt tears swelling in his eyes. Not only Tara…but also everyone else. Everyone was-

"Ugh…" The low moan came from inside the bus.

Jeff raised his head, dropping his hands to his side limply, and stared at the bus from his kneeling position.

Xavier moved to where the noise came from, the front of the bus, Jeff followed close behind.. To they're surprise someone was crawling out of the front windshield.

"Tara!" Xavier yelled as the two moved toward the young girl. Jeff probably would have yelled first if he weren't choked up at the moment…

Another noise came from the other side of the bus. Maybe another survivor? Xavier moved around the other side to get a look.

"…Tara I-"

"Look, this isn't the time, okay?" She snapped. "Just get me the hell out of this bus." Tara moaned afterwards, her entire body riddled with pain.

Jeff shook his head submissively and grabbed her by under her arms and began pulling her slowly and carefully. Then suddenly she wouldn't budge. Something snagged her pants.

Damn these pants to hell…Tara thought as she grimaced at her pants. The pants were tight fitting, and the type that had laces up and down the sides of each leg, and more laces at the very top of her thigh.

Jeff couldn't reach where her pants were snagged, for one thing there wasn't much light, the sun was already beginning to set, and the hole in the windshield wasn't big enough for him to fit through with her lying there. He pondered how to get her out…they were probably hooked on a jagged piece of metal or something.

"Holy shit! Jeff, you should see this! Like right now! Someone needs some serious help over here!" Xavier's voice came from the other side of the bus, his voice sounding slightly worried.

Jeff checked Tara over for injuries; besides a few minor cuts she was fine. "You work on getting your pants loose, I'm going to check with Xavier." Tara didn't nod in agreement; she didn't do much but look away from him and started trying to loosen her pants from whatever they were snagged on. Doing everything but acknowledging the fact that he was trying…

Jeff moved around to the other side, stunned by what Xavier was pointing at. Someone was wedged under the side of the bus, everything under their chest crushed by the bus' weight. But despite the fact that the person, by all means, should be dead, was moaning, moving one arm in the air, the other was crushed under the bus, clawing toward Xavier with rotting bony fingers. The person's face was decaying, pieces of flesh was gone, revealing slimy, shining bone underneath.

"What the…?" Jeff's voice trailed off, he walked over to the person, careful not to get into his reach though. "You okay? I don't know how we're going to get you out from under there…" Jeff was more surprised by the fact that the man was alive, then how bad he looked.

The man continued moaning, something sounding very much like a growl escaped its throat. It opened its mouth wide, suddenly a smell like a rotting piece of meat surrounded Jeff. The thing coughed, clotted blood spewing out of its mouth.

"Ahh!"

Jeff turned too the sound of someone screaming, Tara? Forgetting about the freaky-looking guy crushed under the bus, he and Xavier quickly moved around to where Tara was stuck in the windshield.

She was still screaming even as they came around. Someone was on top of her, groaning and making growling type noises. Tara was trying desperately to keep the man away, his face inching closer to her face.

Xavier, didn't think, there was absolutely no time. He ran up behind the man; one arm wrapped around the man's neck from behind, the other around his chest, and pulled him away from Tara. He held him in a headlock from behind, but he man seemed to be trying to bite Xavier, not knowing what to do; Xavier spun around, and released the man, forcing him to fall to the ground.

Tara's assaulter got back up, resembling a inebriated person to the fullest as it staggered around, for the first time Xavier got a look at his face. An eye was missing, a bloody hole taking its place. Its entire right cheek was gone, exposing rows of decaying teeth, its lower jaw tissue hung off of its face. Its skin was sickly gray, dried blood covering most of its ragged, dirty, clothing.

Xavier swallowed back bile, and backed up as the man staggered toward him, arms outstretched in front of him. It reminded Xavier vividly of a zombie. Just like from the movies, moaning, decaying, arms stretched out in front of them…

Jesus Christ what's going on here? Xavier thought, the man was getting closer, Xavier backed up, then as if the thing got a sudden burst of speed, it lunged forward, groping at Xavier who quickly moved out of the way and the zombie fell to the asphalt with a thud.

"Forget this! Let's bounce!" Xavier yelled as he ran past Jeff and the trapped cheerleader.

Jeff grabbed Tara by under her arms again, and pulled, the sound of material ripping was heard. He looked at the crazed man, back at his feet and moving slowly toward them. The first look at the attackers face made him feel dizzy, his stomach stirred. He pulled again, ripping sounds again. He saw the laces around her thighs coming apart, the leg of the pants coming apart. He looked back toward the approaching…thing. He yanked one last time, the pants' leg ripped off. He quickly scrambled to his feet, bringing her with him and they both broke out into a mad dash toward where Xavier had run.

His mission was to get Ashley Graham back to Washington D.C, and into her fathers arms. Well…he was there. The capital of the United States…and he might as well have been back in Europe with those crazy villagers. It was empty. The entire walk from that blasted Airport, to here, (well they did find an abandoned car that got them a few miles, but besides that they practically walked the entire way), was for nothing!

"…You have got to be kidding me. D.C too? What has Umbrella done?" Leon moved slowly through the empty streets, thankfully not many of the zombies were present. He only had to use 5 bullets throughout the last hours. They had stumbled upon a few police cruisers, collecting two more nine-millimeter magazines, and a Riot Gun, fully loaded with six buckshot's. They also found a shotgun holster in one squad car, along with a holster for Ashley's gun.

Ashley was silent as they entered a narrow alleyway; she was ahead, by about five feet. Her father would be safe, thank God; no doubt he was the first to be evacuated, along with her mother of course. That was a relief…but where was he? Leon tried his radio, tried to contact Hunnigan to get transportation, some support, anything, but it failed. The sun was nearly gone, the world was ready to be handed over to the darkness of night, and suddenly she felt cold. It was mid-autumn, the days were warm, but the nights were cool, a sign that winter was approaching.

Footsteps, a lot of them, rapid footsteps, someone was running. Ashley was drowned in her thoughts. Leon though, was alert. Even as he yelled for her to stop someone ran into her as she walked out from between the two buildings, both her and the attacker crashed to the ground, and out of his view. With the nine-millimeter handgun drawn, Leon ran out of the alleyway, ready to fill her attacker with lead.

Once out of the alley, he turned to her attacker, they were both sprawled out on the sidewalk, both groaning. Leon took close aim at her attacker, a small laser appearing on the back of the dark-skinned males' head, his finger on the trigger.

"No, don't shoot, we're not one of them!"

Leon lowered the gun slightly, and watched the young male sit up, and rub his arm, slightly skinned. Leon glanced at Ashley who was just rising to her feet; she looked fine, besides skinned places on her arms from the fall. Leon holstered the handgun and turned to whoever had told him not to shoot.

It was another young male dressed in street clothes. Maybe he was from here? A survivor possibly? Following close behind him was a young female whom he found oddly dressed; the entire left leg of her pants was missing. Besides that she wore casual clothes. A sleeveless shirt, and sneakers.

"Who are you?" Leon demanded, looking at the group of young adults who gathered in front of him.

Xavier decided to speak first. "Hey, that was my bad. But we were running from this guy…you see…he was…well…trying to hurt us. Didn't mean to run into you." Xavier looked at Ashley. She looked familiar…like he'd seen her on T.V or something.

"Uh, apology accepted. Sorry about Leon, he's a bit trigger happy." Ashley said while looking at Leon. "My name's Ashley, this is Leon." Ashley dusted off her skirt and looked to Xavier for a response.

Xavier looked at Tara and Jeff and dusted off his own clothes. "I'm Xavier, you can call me X though, this is my 'boy Jeff, and his ex, Tara.

Tara rolled her eyes and glared toward Jeff. "Yeah, his ex." Jeff didn't pay any attention to it, he just nodded too Ashley and Leon. Both Tara and Jeff thought Ashley looked familiar too…the daughter of the President maybe? Nah…

Thump!

Leon spun around to where the sound came from. He raised his handgun once more, the laser beam appearing on the wooden door of the building they were standing in front of. It sounded like something had fallen into the door. He moved over so that he was directly in front of the door, if whatever was inside would get out, he would have a clear shot.

Instinctively everyone moved away from Leon, and stood behind him. Everyone braced himself or herself for whatever mutant product of Umbrella's experiments would emerge from the door. They all failed too notice the car parked a few feet away from them, engine still running.

"What was that?" Billy looked toward the wooden motel room door, stopping the conversation between him and Rebecca. There was a few noises downstairs, the creak of the door hinges closing downstairs. He stood up, and moved from where he was seated next to her, and retrieved his handgun before moving to the door.

Billy turned the knob of the door, using the barrel of the gun to open it. Billy glanced back at Rebecca, who was just putting her denim jacket back on, and grabbing her handgun from it's holster, and then he slipped out into the dark hallway.

Billy, luckily, had good night vision. Darkness had set upon the city, and it was close to impossible to see anything. He moved soundlessly over toward the staircase he had come up, pointed the handgun down into the darkness, waited a few seconds, and then descended the stairs. Once at the bottom he scanned the darkness, the door was no more then ten feet from the staircase, meaning that whatever came in, must be roaming around down here somewhere. How'd they find out how to open the door, and then close it for that matter.

Billy shook his thoughts, and moved around the wooden staircase, only to have something shoved into his forehead, hard, in return he lifted his gun up in the air, pointing it at the head of a shadowed figure.

"Your not one of them?" The shadowed figure asked, the barrel of a handgun still pressed into his forehead.

"Can they hold guns? No. Am I one of them? You figure it out genius." Billy snapped, handgun still held firmly to the head of the shadowed figure.

The unseen man snickered and lowered his handgun.

Something was illuminating from around the corner behind the man, light. Billy cocked an eyebrow. "Tell me you came in here with someone else." He moved the handgun away from the still unseen male, and toward where the light was coming from.

A figure stepped out from around the corner, a female, holding an old hurricane lamp. Her hair was pulled back in a red ponytail, clothed in a red jacket under a black tight fitting shirt, gloves, black shorts and boots. She also had a gun. Holstered at her right hip. A utility belt hung loosely at her waist.

Claire tensed, seeing the handgun being aimed at her. The room now a little more lit. The unknown male grabbed the barrel of Billy's handgun.

"That's my sister, Claire. My name's Chris Redfield." Chris holstered his handgun, and released the barrel of Billy's handgun. "She's no zombie. Lower your weapon."

Billy holstered his own, noticing quickly that Claire was pretty good-looking. "Your survivors?"

Chris shook his head. "No, not exactly. Long story actually. Is anyone else here?"

As if on cue, Rebecca Chambers appeared behind Billy, her handgun drawn also. At the sight of Chris her eyes widened, and she jumped in excitement.

"Chris!" Rebecca cried in surprise. She holstered her handgun and ran into his arms. "Wow, Chris! Long time no see huh?"

Chris grinned and patted her on the back. "Yeah, long time no see. How are you?"

Billy couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy as Rebecca embraced Chris.

Who the hellis this guy anyways? Billy crossed his arms over his chest and watched the two talk. Of course, what he didn't know was that after the incident with the leech guy, Rebecca probably would be dead if it wasn't for Chris, explaining why they were such good friends.

The embrace ended, and Rebecca turned too Billy, still grinning happily. "Billy, this is Chris, Chris Redfield."

Yeah…I know…and? Billy thought to himself.

"He's another S.T.A.R.S, Alpha Team. A good friend of mine."

"Ex-S.T.A.R.S." Chris reminded her, frowning slightly.

After some more proper introduction's, the group moved upstairs, into a room that they sat in until something else was heard outside the motel…

Chris decided to go take a look, he moved stealthily down the stairs, at the same time pulling out a small flashlight, placed it over the gun and continued down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom he trained his gun and light on the wooden door, not letting his eyes move from it, and he walked forward slowly. Thoughts raced through his head.

Open the door. Shoot it in the head. Go back upstairs. Easy enough, right?

What if it wasn't a zombie? What if it was something worse? His boot came down on something, cylinder in shape, and he stumbled forward, not able to keep his balance, and fell into the door, his shoulder smashing into it, using it as his only support.

Nice move. Now whatever is out there is probably jumping with excitement. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Chris hurriedly straightened, took a deep breath, and grabbed the handle of the door. He raised his handgun, ready to fire. For a moment he tensed, hesitant to open the door. What could be on the other side? What sort of abomination made by Umbrella could be on the other side? A Hunter? Maybe a Licker or two?

Let's just hope it's a zombie, Chris.

Chris grabbed the doorknob, twisted it slowly, let it slide open just slightly, backed up, and kicked it open, at the same time something loud boomed through the motel, and something whizzed past his ear as the door flew open, he fired his handgun in response.

As soon as Leon fired the handgun, the thing on the other side retaliated immediately, it seemed whoever it was, had fired a gun. He glared at what was on the other side of the door…the dark hole at the end of a handguns barrel. Someone, distinctly recognizable, was holding it, looking just as stunned as he was.

It wasn't a zombie. That's a relief.

"Leon? Leon Kennedy right? Used to work at the RPD?" Chris holstered his handgun. He looked past Leon momentarily at the group of teenagers behind him, and cocked an eyebrow.

Leon nodded. "And your Chris Redfield. S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team. What brings you here?" Leon thought for a moment. This is Chris Redfield, the best marksman in the Raccoon S.T.A.R.S, and maybe the entire S.T.A.R.S group, and his bullet missed him by at least three feet! He was lucky.

Chris shrugged. "Was going to ask you the same thing. But it's a long story. Come in here, it's warmer, and safer." As Chris was turning to go back into the motel, an SUV pulled up in front of the motel. Two recognizable figures seated in it. At the sight of them, his face lit up, his eyes literally twinkling. It was Barry Burton, and Jill Valentine.

The group of eleven all gathered into a single hotel room, lit by a few candles on an antique table. All of them told their stories; ironically they were all pretty much the same, save Leon, Ashley, and the other three teens' reasons for being here. Leon's reason for being here was to return Ashley to her father of course. He didn't tell them where she was, or what had happened in that mysterious place in Europe…yet. It didn't seem necessary at the moment. The three teenagers, Jeff, Xavier, and Tara, told everyone that they were driving through D.C to get to their next game.

Everyone else had the same explanation for being here. Besides the fact that Rebecca informed Billy, Jill, and Barry, each one had experienced Umbrella's twisted experiments first hand and somehow they felt that they had a responsibility in the situation. They all felt that it was time that they had some payback for being forced through nightmares created by Umbrella. It was time to shut Umbrella down, once and for all.

"So you're saying that Umbrella carries out experiments in secret labs?" Xavier scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. "Sounds just a little unlikely if you ask me."

Barry Burton scoffed at Xavier's comment. "Unlikely, huh? We have proven facts, that those things," Barry motioned toward the nearest window, "Are products of twisted experiments."

Xavier frowned. "Yeah…we saw one of them. Two actually. One was crushed under a bus…another was trying to kiss Tara."

Chris cocked an eyebrow at Xavier. "Kiss? Sorry, kid, it was trying to eat her. Zombies are not the romantic type."

Tara shifted uncomfortably in her seat, running a quick hand through her hair she sunk down into the chair. Trying to block out images of her attacker.

Jeff leaned forward in his chair. "…Zombies huh? It does sound a little awkward…but…"

Jill decided to speak up. "All of us here, save you three, have been through countless hours fighting zombies off. Trust us, what seems impossible, is likely to be lurking around the next corner. We've saw it all, we hope."

Leon, who was leaning against the wall near the door, arms crossed over his chest seriously, spoke up. "My top priority is getting Ashley back to her father. It'll take a lot of weight off our shoulders. She'll just be one more person for us to look out for…and having to look out for ourselves is more then enough responsibility. I have to get to the White House; the President is likely locked up in some secret fallout shelter under the White House. Luckily I have access to every locked room in the place. So I guess that's where I'm headed."

Ashley was standing next to him, a embarrassed look upon her face.

I'm just one more problem for him to deal with I guess…He said it himselff... Ashley sighed inwardly and smoothed her skirt.

"I think it's best that all of us go with you, Leon." Rebecca announced. "Jeff, Xavier, and Tara can stay here. It's plenty safe, I don't think a zombie can get through a door, let alone two doors, and climb a flight of stairs. And if worst comes to worst they can shove a desk in front of the door. A zombie definitely doesn't have that type of strength. Does everyone agree?"

There were no objections.

"Then let's get going." Billy stood up from his chair, and looked around the room at the group. "Quicker the better…I'm sure once we find the President, we can persuade him to call in the army. Why the old man hasn't done that yet, I have no idea."

Ashley grimaced at Billy's remark about her father being old. He was only forty-six! Billy couldn't be any less then ten years younger!

Chris nodded in agreement. "We should make some sort of plan…there's eight of us going, we should split into 2 groups. The largest group searching the above ground levels of the White House, the smaller group heading with Leon down into the lower levels. Once the largest group is finished with their search, they will catch up with Leon's group. As soon as Ashley is delivered to her father, we head straight back here, collect them," Chris motioned his hand toward Jeff, Xavier, and Tara, "Bring them back too the President, and they'll be in good hands."

"Why don't we just go with you the first time?" Tara queried.

"Well it would be a lot less time consuming, but keep in mind, you are all weaponless. It would be much more dangerous to bring you along. But once we go to the White House, and come back, most of the zombies will be cleared out, and a relatively clear path would have been made by then." Chris answered. Feeling as if he was still in S.T.A.R.S as they all pieced together a plan.

Yeah if there's only zombies out there… Claire shuttered at the thought.

"Can we all agree on that?" Chris looked around the room, receiving nods from everyone. "Alright then, it's decided. Like Billy said, the sooner the better. So let's get going."

All at once everyone got up, or walked toward the door, checking their weapons before filing one by one out the door. The last one out was Jill Valentine who turned to the three teens. "Lock this door, and keep an ear open for…intruders. Stay safe guys." With that, Jill left, leaving the three teens in the dimly lit room alone.

A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews. I hope this chapter was exciting for you readers. At least suspenseful anyways. Heh…it was long too huh? Expect the next chapter to be equally, if not more longer. A lot is going to happen. Including the first appearance of…The Licker! A couple more reviews for next chapter to come up.

Peace