Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own Resident Evil as much as I wanted to. Thank you. But I do own the following characters: Cyril & Sierra Leong, Lavender & Alexandra McHale, Wilson James, Noah Windchaser and Maia Dawn

Note: This is a small interlude between Chapter 1and 2. Although chapter two is near completion, I feel the need to exclude the first part of chapter two into another separate chapter. Thus… Tadaa

Interlude: In Between

(27 April, 1998. Monday)

I looked out to the window while sitting on the old red sofa. The sky was dusty red, night is coming. I don't know what I should do in this kind of time. Normally, I would have been busy preparing dinner for the family. But since she was gone, there was nothing much I could do other than my part-time work I just found this morning (And something tells me that a certain somebody will not be very happy about this at all…). Still, this was better then staying at home doing nothing. Time was not something to be wasted like this.

I continued staring outwards, my mind wandering what mother was doing at this time. What we would have been doing at this time. I heave a sigh again. And stop saying that I'm an optimistic person, because I'm not. The unwelcome cries of the crows were disturbing, but I didn't care about it anyway. After all, I know there's a nest of them somewhere on top of the building. I sat ba

The woman looked at the report intensely. Her smile getting broader and broader, her eyes literally glittered with excitement as her assistant stood there watching her. "Excellent… I should have done this a long, long time ago. The results were not only satisfactory, but they're also excellent. The results are on par- no, even surpasses the results of the original T-Virus."

"You seem to be very happy with the results." The male assistant asked ck, and relax for a while. I watched the ceiling fan turn and turn and turn…… her, looking at her all the time as he stood at the other side of her desk. His eyes never blinked.

"I am, Kyle. We should have used human beings as subjects for the experiment eons ago. Look at it!" And she let him see the papers, and a few photographs. Kyle took them and scanned at each of them carefully, his palm sweating. The photographs show a human, almost deformed with eight crooked limbs longer than eight meters, teeth as sharp as sharks' with red marks all over it. Its body deformed, its skin pale, and looked like a giant, monstrous spider as a whole. The dark, grayish eyes covered by stripes of long, white hair looking at him reflect the light of insanity… It no longer retained the body structure of a living human. This was the monster created by the virus? He asked himself. This looked like it came out from someone else's nightmare…

"Wasn't she beautiful? The first of my children had finally been born… but she was far from perfect. She had killed and ate her… brothers and sisters during the process." She chuckled playfully as her mind calculated the possibility of improving the virus. But her assistant, fear stricken, had accidentally dropped the photographs onto the floor. He knelt down, picking it up one by one, looking at those dark, insane eyes… He could suddenly feel sweat washing down his neck. Those eyes had already given him the creeps and sending chills down his very spine. He never would have thought the virus they were working on had such capabilities. When they tested it on the mice, no change as big as this had happened before…

"Imagine, Kyle." And he looked at the doctor as he stood up, his hands shaking. "If this is the product by using an incompatible…" She laughed out again, this time with utmost joy. "What will be the product of a compatible? Those with the correct genetic signatures? Ah… I shudder just to think about that, Kyle… We, Kyle. You and I will witness the dawn of a new age in virology." And then she let out another laughter. Not of joy, but of anxiety… and triumph.

"Pro-professor? Why… why don't we just stop the research… This…" And he placed the pictures on the table. "This… thing doesn't belong in this world." He did not know what he could say… But the professor merely smiled at her assistant. "I understand your feeling, Kyle. You made me remembered the first time I saw her in that place. I dare say that she is the source of inspiration for my research, a guiding light within the shadows. You should remind me to tell you my stories sometime. Perhaps… perhaps then you would understand."

Then her eyes looked grimly at him. "You have no where to turn to… Have you forgotten what happened to my last assistant? That poor, poor little girl… The boss decided she would be a threat when she decided to resign, so she was…" And she pointed her index finger at him, her thumb at the ceiling and made her hand looked like a gun. "Bang." She told him with a strange playfulness and serenity within her voice, and her silent, enigmatic smile…

I woke up briefly as the knockings on the door became more apparent. I looked around in the pitch black darkness… oh yeah. I dozed off on the sofa. I put my feet on the floor and yawned as I stretched a bit. The knockings continued as I dragged myself towards the door (And hit the coffee table somewhere). Before I opened the door, I switched on the lights first since the switch was just beside the door. Then, I turned the door knob, and I saw the face of a person who I wasn't expecting.

"Maia? How did you find me here?" My voice trailed off as she welcomed herself into my residence. Then she turned back to face me with a smile. "I was the one who lead you back here, remember? There aren't a lot of foreigners who decide to live in Downtown, more so when they're under the employment of Umbrella. Did a few snooping around and a wonderful male told me where you live. And it happened to be someone you knew too!"

My hand rose up with a 'stop' signal. "Let me guess. This guy's name 'happened' to be Noah." She nodded gleefully and I groaned grumpily. This is not good… I was basically getting famous because of him after they heard me rejecting Umbrella's offer. But that was only for now… I was still thinking about it actually. Working in a lab did not seemed so hard.

"Well, have a seat." I show her to the sofa as I closed the door gently. "So… you're here. What's up?" I asked her as I approach the couch opposite the sofa.

"Well, I was free tomorrow. And I was thinking about helping you familiarize your surroundings. You're up to it?" I thought for a while. "I just got a job, and tomorrow just happened to be my working day. Sorry." And I gave her an apologetic smile. "Perhaps next time, Maia."

Her smile became broader. "Aww… you broke my heart. But I am sure tomorrow would be a good time. Won't you reconsider?" I sighed. "Sure. But I'll need to tell my boss first." She nodded as she stood up and walked towards the door. "Well, see you first thing in the morning. Have a nice dream." And she quickly opened it, and closed.

I wonder to myself… Was this the life I wanted? This question had troubled me a lot lately… I really didn't give it much thought at first, to tell the truth. But who am I to complain?