Jill

They encountered more creatures on the inside that resembled the afflicted described by Barry more than the zombies. Jill fired her Handgun six times striking one, a man who's face was so disfigured it made deciphering its original features impossible. She wasn't entirely sure these things were really Afflicted or at least not entirely. The first round hit the man, a man in camoflauge pants and a gray sweater in the stomach the second in the chest the third in the left knee and the fourth in the right knee. The next two struck it in the head.

Sheva fired as well striking the next one in in the forehead. "Something's not right," Sheva observed. "These things are supposed to be sensitive to light. They shouldn't be able to go into a well lit mall should they?"

"I don't know. I wasn't at that island. None of us were except for Barry and Claire."

It seemed to not impact them much. "There's more light here than the islands where they had flashlights."

They moved through the mall trying to be as quiet as they could but it wasn't exactly easy with thousands of infected all around them. They made their way past a Victoria's Secret. Jill smiled to herself thinking, Too bad we're on a mission and have more important things to do. Wouldn't mind stocking up myself. She noticed Sheva looking at it too and wondered if the thought occured to her as well. Just then, they heard a grunt indicating a struggle. They looked up to see a BSAA agent driving a knife into the back of theh skull of one of the afflicted. It was Malone. Sheva was about to try and cry out to her but Jill put a finger to her lip.

Jane also kicked another carrier over the railing. They could see she was on level 2. She also spotted Agent Chavez who broke the neck of a female afflicted carrier. "Come on, Jane we gotta find the rest of the team..."

"They can't be far...this place only has three levels..." Stated the red headed woman. "And a lot of fucking zombies. Or afflicted...whatever the hell they are. This looks like the same shit my brother was afflicted with. It killed him..."

Jane put a hand on his arm. "I know...but we have to keep fighting on. He wouldn't want to see us end up the way he did. You have to keep going. For Gabriel."

Sheva started to make her way towards them when the lights all started flickering again. Damn it..." She cursed. Sheva reached the floor they were on and Jill was right behind her. "Hey! Glad you guys made it," Jill said. They looked relieved to find friendlies. "Agent Valentine. Thank God! Where's Captain Redfield?"

Jill stated, "He went out to look for the others. We wanted to stick to the mission at hand but he didn't think you all could handle it..."

"Not exactly a vote of confidence," Stated Jane. "Just being honest," Jill told her. "It's not a reflection of you. Don't let it distract f you from doing your job. We're going to get out of here alive. He's just afraid to lose another team. Speaking of which have you seen the others?"

"I haven't see Cam, Raven or Warren," Admitted Boxer. "They went around the side of the mall and probably up and over but I'm not even sure if they even made it inside. There's a lot of los muertos out there,"

Just then,, the lights went out and the BSAA agents panicked. "Stay calm," Sheva warned. "We need to stick together!"

There were several carriers comin there way. First seven, which Jane and Boxer started firing at with their service pistols. Then fourteeen. Then twenty one. Soon there was too many of them converging on the four BSAA agents. "Fuck!" Cried Jane. "Get them off me!" She cried out as one of them stabbed her with a rusty screwdriver in the side, a female. Montoyo fired into the back of the carrier's skull striking it in the brain stem. Another came at him, a male, African American but this one had grayish skin and eyes that were just white slits. It also stood six inches taller than Boxxer. Still, Boxer kicked him back against the railing and folowed up with a punch.

It fell over. Sheva fired her pistol rapidluy dropping three of them with head shots. "Jesus Christ are these things afflicted remenants or zombies?! I'm starting to not be able to tell. Is Neo Umbrella playing mix and match with these fucking things?!" Boxer asked. "Who cares?! Shoot them!" Agent Malone cried as she kicked a male carrier in the groin forcing him back and drove her combat knife into his neck severing the spinal cord. "Right!" Chavez cried out as he had tpo reload his pistol.

He put the magazine against the head of a carrier, a Caucasian male with a red beard that was now caked in dirt and dried blood which blackened it as well as the orange plaid shirt he was wearing and his blue jeans. "Hey buddy hold still for a sec!" He slapped the gun home onto the magazine he held against his head with his other hand succeeding in reloading and pistol whipping the carrier at the same time and as its head snapped back he sneered, "Gracias," With that, he fired a shot into its forehead and it went down but his triumph was short lived as another one grabbed him and flung him to the ground. "Uh...Jane...a little help?"

Sheva kicked one back and as it fell over she followed up with a head stomp and she went to try and help Agent Chavez and it seemed Malone had been grabbed too and was grappling with a zombie but then, Sheva was grabbed too. It sunk its teeth into her shoulder and she cried out as it bit her. "Hold on!" Jill urged. Jill fired her Rifle into the back of its head and four rounds also tore the man's right ear off. However just as she was about to use a can of first aid spray on Sheva for her bite, she felt the wind knocked out of her as a lare muscular man dressed in a construction workers clothing rammed into her. He had to be at least seven feet tall. Jill scrambled to her feet wodering how hard he had hit her since she had abnormal abilities due to the virus.

She tried to fire but he grabbed her and threw her over the rail. She screamed the way down. The fall was not a long drop but it was enough to knock the windo out of her. "HOLD ON!" She heard Sheva cry out as the West African agent began firing through carrier after carrier to make her way back downstairs. Jill attempted to get up, trying to catch her breath but she heard a growl of a male voice and saw something come at her and she felt a sharp pain in her face and hit the floor, blacking out.

Carlos

"All right...we're here..." Carlos said laying a map out. He pointed to a spot on the map next to an x. "We're just outside the Aḥmar Simich. We need to be here. This is where Collins is said to be meeting with his contact in Anubis. At the baazar just ten kilometers from the hospital."

"What's kilometers in miles again?" Carlos sighed. The rest of the world knew the metric system yet somehow Americans didn't out of stubbornness. The only other countries in the world besides the US that didn't was Burma which was a hell hole, and Liberia which was a hell hole and founded by Americans. The military was expected to know the metric system but he remembered that all though most BSAA agents had a background in law enforcement or military, regardless of country, they didn't all come from that background.

Some had joined the fight wanting to fight only not for country or money but for the world. "It's 6 miles," Said Carlos, trying to be patient.

"6.21371 miles, to be exact," Stated Renji. "But if you can't be exact then 6 miles is close enough in a pinch."

Lars turned to Carlos. "You were saying, Captain?" Carlos continued, "We're cutting through what I believe will be hostile territory. Anubis tangos have had heavy movement in this area and I heard a convoy of the Iraqi security team were on their way. The army and the coalition is going to try and evacuate as many civilians as possible before firing a shot but I've been briefed on the possibility of it breaking out before they can. Terrorists usually aren't that considerate," He sighed as this next thing he had to say stressed him. "We're here to route Anubis but we're going to need to avoid engaging until we apprehend Collins. We don't want to spook him. Do not fire unless fired upon. Got it?"

"Captain this is insane!" Stated May. "We can't do our jobs? These people are involved in bioterrorism and terrorism in general. That's the bottom line. We should be able to kill them. At least anybody in the way of what we came here to do."

Her cousin, Deana added, "Yeah what kind of terrorists holds a black market deal when there's a siege going on, anyway? Smells fishy if you ask me."

"They want their weapons," Will replied. "Simple as that. They could be getting their asses kicked out here."

"It doesn't matter. Our orders are to try and maintain a low profile on the way to the rendezvous. Remember, we've got limited jurisdiction here. We don't want to overstay our welcome before we've completed our objective. Collins is a threat not only to this country but to the world."

They made it across the steeet when they saw two guerillas dragging a woman forward screaming at her in the Kurdish language. TRhey stayed low to not draw attention and they could hear automatic fire. The security forces and the Anubis insurgents were fighting about a mile away and the sounds were getting closer. "Hold position," Carlos warned his team mates. "The security forces will be here to engage the hostiles in a minute."

"Captain, you can't be serious. We gotta help these people. That's what we're here to do. We got as good of training as any special forces team," Agent Otistoko told him. Carlos replied to the Mohawk BSAA agent, "Will, that's an order. We don't have a choice. There's twelve of us. We're not much use here."

"Captain, there's been Navy Seals teams with less people than this," Protested Agent Kruger "We can't just let these people die."

Carlos told her, "Ida, the special forces, even Seals would stand by when ordered to if it served our objctive. I know this is bad but this is what we have to do."

Even as Carlos said this he wished he didn't have to. After all, he was from South America, Brazil to be exact and had once been a guerilla fighting against the government. Everybody except him had died among his old unit. He'd barely ecaped wtith his life and he;d had to hide under dead bodies. He hated that he';d had to but he knew that the soldiersa were shooting rebels in the head just to make sure they were dead and if he'd laid out in the open, he would have been too. He'd laid under several dead bodies so he'd been covered. Then, when they came to haul off the bodies to be buried in a mass grave, he'd killed two soldiers and escaped. In truth, he still had survivors guilt to this day. Not long after, he was taken to the United States and he joined the UBCS.

He didn't want to stand by and do nothing. It was deja vu. It was the same thing here, happening in Iraq that had once happened to him in his own country when the Jungle Brigade and the loggers came to try and kill him and his comrades. He didn't want to hold position while attrocities were commited but that was also sadly, a huge part of war. It didn't matter if you were a guerilla from South America, or a soldier in the US. And sometimes to complete an objective you had to turn a blind eye to attrocities. Just then, they saw two Anubis members ripping a woman's clothes off. Nicki growled, "I am not standing by and watching this!"

Carlos told her, "Shhh! If you compromise us we'll be oveerun and they'll do the same to you! You're American..." Oliver also told them, "He's right. Unfortunatley, the Captainb is right," Whispered the Australian BSAA agent. "A lot more attrocities than here are going to happen worldwide and these nutters will have Bio Organic Weapons in their aresenal. We cant risk a rescue mission."

"What if we just buy them some time?" Asked Agent Kruger. Carlos wanted to scream, Yes let's buy them some time. He waned to kill every last one of those terrorist motherfuckers but he knew that if they did that they'd just be alerting Thomas Collins that they were in the area."

Lars told him, "I've seen this happen often enoiugh in my own country. I'm not waiting," He fired striking one of the Anubis members in the forehead and the women who were being held captive panicked but Agent Abdi yelled, "adhhiba! yarkada! 'akhraj min huna! quwwat al'amn fi tariqiha!"

(Go! Run! Get out of here! The security forces are on their way!)

The women and children got up including the woman who was about to be raped, ran the other direction. One of the women, an older woman of about forty, was struck in the back with five rounds as an Anubis member shot her. Carlos gritted his teeth. "Goddamn it!" He fired striking the man in the side of the neck and the man fell down clutching at his wound. Agent Abdi and Agent Otistoko opened fire, their Rifles striking an Anubis insurgent, the first was a man with dark curlty hair and olive skin and beady dead eyes wearing a gray t shirt and brown jeans. He fell as Fatima struck him in the forehead with three rounds. Peter fired nailing a man in his late thirties with a full beard wearing traditional Muslim clothing as the man was carrying a pistol. He struck the man in the sternum with four rounds quickly turning his clean white garment red.

"Alkuffar yahajimuna!" Yelled one of the tangos.

One of the Anubis members fired striking Nicki in the chest. She fell over and returned fire from the ground but soon two 7.62 rounds hit her in the collar bone on the right side and another struck her helmet which was bullet proof but still caused head trauma. She cried out in pain. Peter rushed to her side as she bled badly and he got out his medical kuit while Perry and May covered him the two striking three Anubis insurgents Most of the civilians were running away in every direction. Fatima called to them, "Tashghil 'iilaa 'iitlaq alnnar tasmae nahw alshrq! hadha hu almakan aldhy alkhyr! wasawf hmaytk!"

(Run to the shooting you hear towards the east! That is where the good guys are! They will protect you!)

Peter was at Nicki's side trying to stop the bleeding. He got out his first aid spray and he tried to ease the bleeding but it wasn't working. "Guys...I'm sorry...I just couldn't let them..." Nicki said.

"Don't worry, it's okay. I would have done the same but you beat me to it," Peter said with a smile trying to be reassuring. "She's got internal bleeding," Deana told him. Peter cursed to himself. "She's got a weak pulse too. We gotta get her out of here," He applied pressure to her wound. Lars fired striking five members of Anubis wounding three of them and killing two. Carlos ran forward finishing each of them off with a single head shot. "Well, Lars I hope you're happy! We gotta kill em all now! Can't risk them trying to tip off Collins!" Carlos fired upon a man who was trying to hit them with a Rifle from fifty yards. He struck hitting the man in the abdomen with ten rounds. Lars, Kruger, May, , and Oliver mowed down six more Anubis insurgents.

Just then, several rounds struck Peter in the stomach and he fell over but the vest protected him. He shielded Nicki from any further rounds and several hit him in the back. Deana let off twenty three rounds striking the Anubis insurgent in the chest with six rounds, four in the gut, three in the left pelvis, five in the left leg and five in the head. The man was shredded by the rounds his brain matter blown all over the dirt. Deana rushed to Peter's side. He got off Nicki groaning from the trauma but aside from the vest areas was unhit. Nicki was starting to go into shock. He tried to give her CPR but it was no use. Carlos pulled him back. "Enough. There's nothing you can do. She had internal bleeding. Without immediate medical attention, surgery, there was nothing you could do."

Peter was in tears. "I just killed her..." He felt guilty having rolled on top of her. "No, you didn't. If she wasn't hit there it might have saved her life," He turned to Lars. "You on the other hand," He struck the Dutch man in the face with a hard left hook. "You put the team at risk like that again I will shoot you myself. Is that understood?"

The older BSAA agent spat blood from his lip onto the ground. "Maybe you aren't meant to lead, Captain Oliveira. We're stopping these deals to save lives. That's our objective. If you can't allow me to do my job, maybe you should resign. After all, I'm more qualified to lead this team than you. The only reason you're leading it is because you were in Raccoon City. It should be Oliver or me running this team."

"Maybe it would be," Carlos said. "Hell, maybe even should be. But you weren't there at Ground Zero. I was. I saw Raccoon City obliterated in the blink of an eye. I went there to try and save people. We all did. Even if that turned out to be a lie from our HQ, that's still what I signed up for. You know what I learned? You can't save everyone. You just tried and you just got a woman killed plus one of your own team mates."

"So I should have let them rape her?" Lars demanded. "I don't like it, either. It took everything in me to not shoot them before you did. Women got raped where I come from too. I remember it as a little kid. I wasn't strong enough to fight. When I was, I did and I saved some lives prevented some attrocities. But I couldn't save everybody. Not in the Amazon and not in Raccoon. And not here. Rape is something I wish I never had to witness again. But the security forces were less than a mile away. These putos were not planning to kill them but to take them as sex slaves. There would have been trauma but rape is something you can get therapy for. Death is permenant."

"Well that's where we agree to disagree," Spat the Northern European agent as he got up. "You can disagree all you want. But the fact is, if it wasn't for you, Nicki would be alive and so would that lady most likely. The insurgents would have been too busy trying to hold off the army."

"They could have also used them as a human shield," Protested Kruger. "Yeah I don't doubt it but you know what would have really been a smart move? If you'd held off until the reenfotcements got here. We could have kept our fire covert as soon as they engaged the enemy. They would have thought they were being hit on all sides. We could have got the women and children to safety. All of them."

"You didn't give any indication that was what we were up to," Snarled Agent Brevic. He looked at the dead bodies of the Anubi insurgents and the woman they'd shot. "Fucking hajis!" Fatima growled, "Hey!" Lars got in her face saying, "Well who else, Fatima? Who the fuck else?! We get all kinds of people like this in the Netherlands too. And Sweeden. And Belgium. I can understand their anger towards the Americans or the British, even the French but what did we ever do to these cocksuckers?! Our only history of imperialism and pillaging is on our own continent as Vikings and we lost to the Catholics eventually so we became civilized! And how can they do this to their own people? We stopped being barbarians. When are they going to?"

"Lars," Carlos said trying to be a good leader despite wanting to wring his neck, despite never having wanted this detail. "I understand that what's gloing on in your part of the world is new to you. My heart goes out to anybody who ever was victimized by refugees. We went through the same thing with the Spanish and the Portuguese. But the thing to remember is all this you see in your homeland? It's a recent thing. All of you grew up in first world countries. I grew up in a country that wasn't so different from this. I've seen war atrocities and I've fought against them. So when I tell you I was around this mierda my entire life, BELIEVE ME. Sometimes, no matter how much it eats you up inside. No matter how much you hate yourself for it, sometimes you have to show restraint. Especially when what you do can put even more people at risk. Do you think you've stopped anything? You might have prevented a few deaths. You said yourself. You've been with the Alliance longer than me. Even if I did encounter Bio Organic Weapons first. So you tell me, Lars. Do you think a man with your experience should know better than to pull a Kamikaze stunt like that?"

The Northern European agent did not respond. Captain Oliveira grabbed the dog tags from Nicki and he turned to the other BSAA agents. "This is why we don't disobey orders,"

Moira

They handed out weapons for those who were able to use them, all that they'd been able to get from the station. The Sheriff was trying his radio and so were the two members of the CGPD. "This is Sheriff Tobias Warner with the Lane County Sheriff. Does anybody read me?" There was no answer. He turned to the other two. "What could make it so we can't get a signal out?"

Amber also chimed in saying, "No cell signal either. I haven't been able to dial out since this started happening,"

"Me either," Leah added. Claire suggested, "They probably jammed it," Sam turned to her with curiousity. "They?"

"Anubis," Moira answered him. "They don't seem to want emergency services from out of town to be able to go out. They don't want you reaching the Oregon National Guard either," Whitney scoffed, "That's crazy! They can't just keep this from getting out. What about news stations? This is going to get to other towns, other counties. A bunch of terrorists aren't going to keep this under wraps forever!"

"They don't have to," Jack replied. "They only have to do it until it's too late. By the time other counties figure out what's going on, this'll be there problem too. And they won't be able to help us. They won't even be able to help themselves."

Leah said, "Do you really think you should be saying that? We've got a child with us. We need to keep everyone in here calm. We could be here a while and we may have to rely on each other to stay alive."

"Because it's the truth," Jack stated. "No backup is coming. We're on our own here. Claire says she's encountered this kind of thing before. She said it was in the Midwest but now, if Anubis is all over the country, they could all be in on this. They could have jammed up the signals of every cell tower."

"That's ridicolous," Stated the preacher. "It would take years of planning. And if you were going to take years to plan an attack like this, why even go for a small town like this? Why not a large city?"

Claire replied to the preacher. "It would be easier to take over a town like this. What do you know about the men that supposedly set this off? I mean really?" She had turned her attention to Tobias. "I already told you, Claire. There was a bank robbery and a shooting. The robbers had that chemical gas agent on them and it went off during the shootout. The C virus. That'ds what you called it, right? That's what it was. What else is there to explain?"

"There might be more of them still alive. With a sleeper cell like this, there would need to be somebody running it. Somebody operating the cell. A leader. Have you noticed anything suspiscious?"

"I know it may be hard for you to understand, lbut even in a town of this size, we can't watch everybody that comes and goes! Maybe it's nothing to big city people but this is still quite a few people. Believe me, I've seen smaller towns than this one. As small as 150 people. If it was that, maybe I can understand you expecting us to know everybody but I don't."

"Anybody from out of town then?" Asked Moira. "Come on, you had to see somebody suspiscious from out of town."

"I'm telling you, we didn't have any problems until it was too late. We never get calls about bank robberies. When we say this might just be the first time anybody ever robbed a bank in this town, we actually mean it," Jack stated. "And now we've got no reenforcements. So if there is some psycho out there, that's just great. But there's not really much I can do about it. I don't know what to look for. Or who. We're understaffed."

Martin nodded in agreement. "He's right. What you see is what we got,"

Claire looked outside. "I have to go back out there. If they've jammed all outgoing calls, we need to unjam it wherever they did it."

"The cell tower," Sam told her. "That's where they'd need to do it. I can take you to where it's going to be.1505 Main St.. I know exactly where that is. They just reversed the signal so that none can get in and out. We just need to go back and take care of that."

He held up the M92F. "Actually, you two can stay here. The less people with me, the better. I don't work well with teams."

"I'm not letting you go out there alone!" Cried Whitney. "You're taking me with you. I survived at the police station. I can handle myself."

Sam declined. "I can't let you do that, baby. You had help at the station but a lot of people got killed. Thank God these people showed up when they did. I'll come straight back. I'll be worse off if I have to worry about you."

"You're my husband," She said with tears in her eyes. "I'm supposed to worry about you and you're supposed to worry about me. To protecty me. We can protect each other!"

"If something happened to you, the way it did with..." He looked at Jack who was still shaken by the death of his own wife. "I couldn't forgive myself."

"What about me, Sam? You think I want to lose you to those mindless freaks out there? If you won't take me, at least take one of these Terra Save women. They have more experience with this than you do."

He grined saying, "I'm a veteran of a foreign war. I was shooting Rifles when she was probably in braces. And this one? She was probably in diapers," He said beckoning to Moira. "That's real great, asshole. That kind of macho bullshit is exactly what's going to get you killed!" Moira growled. Claire stepped up. "Then take me with you. I have the most expirience with the infected. If you want to keep it a small operation, fine. I'll go with you. We'll reverse the signals. Then what?"

"Then we try and get a signal out to the next county. Get the cavalry called in so we can end this nightmare. You were in Raccoon. Don't you think if they'd called in our boys a lot sooner, the city might have been saved?"

Claire shook her head. "From what I understand, they did call in the military. It wasn't enough. They just got infected too. There were too many zombies."

"Claire, I don't think it's a good idea for us to split up again. We barely made it here in one piece. And remember back on the island...?"

Claire assured the younger Terra Save member, "That's not going to happen here. I'm coming back," She looked at Whitney and promised, "So is your husband," Sam kissed the blonde goodbye and he told her, "I promise you, I'll be back. It won't take long. Besides, we got a friend in Jesus so he'll watch out for me. Aint that right, padre?" He asked turning to the preacher. "I'm no jesuit, son. But you're right. And we will pray for your safe return. You and Claire. You're doing the Lord's work."

Moira reluctantly opened the church doors letting the two outside.

Claire

They headed across the lawn of the church. Sam removed a pocket knife from his boot and plunged it into the back of the skull of one of the carriers. He moved forward kicking the corpse away from him and followed up with another stab to a female carrier. He had a backup knife which he handed her. "Take this. Better if we take them down silently. Gunshots seem to draw their attention."

Claire did the same stabbing a male zombie through the forehead and one came up behind her grabbing her a tall white male of about six feet with a receeding hairlone a man in his late 60's wearing a red flannet shirt and jeans and a cowboy belt. She stabbed him in the throat and opened him up and he bled all over himself and her arms. She stabbed him again kicking him to the ground. She brought it down further stabbing him in the side of the neck with the blade crunching into the back severing his spinal cord. They were mostly clear now. They got into Sam's car and began to drive up the street. "Who did you serve with in Desert Storm? My brother was Air Force."

"Yeah? He see any action?"

"He didn't talk much about it. He left not long after but he said he flew a few missions. He didn't go to Iraq. He was in Bosnia as ar as I know. He did a few missions in Kosovo too. His career didn't last that long there. He was young and he joined S.T.A.R.S. in 1996."

"S.T.A.R.S...where have I heard that before?" Asked Sam. "They were an elite police force within the Raccoon Police Department."

"Oh I see. I guess that makes sense. Yeah, you're the sister of Chris Redfield, huh? Well I didn't realize I'd be meeting a celebrity. Or the sister of one."

Claire chuckled. "I'm no celebrity. Believe me. There's no walk of fame stars," Sam looked at her saying, "Really? Cause I seem to recall your name coming up in some story regarding an attack in Paris back in 98'. Of course, there was a media blackout and suddenly I couldn't find diddly at any of the library computers."

"Yeah, trhat was an Umbella facility. If they could cover up what happened to Raccoon City, they can cover up what happened in Paris."

"I wouldn't think the capitol of a country and one of teh most famous cities in the world would be as easy to cover up. No offense, it's just you can't really compare a midwestern town of average size to Paris. I've never been, before. Did you get to see any sights before you went full on Anarchist?"

"A little bit. I wasn't there for vacation. I was trying to find my brother."

"Well it's a good thing Umbrella;'s not around anymore. We have him and you to thank for that, don't we? Anyway, I don't know anything about Paris myelf except it's supposed to be the city of love. So they say anyway,"

Claire chuckled with a smile saying, "Thinking of taking Whitney there?"

"Yeah...maybe one day. She's kind of a small town girl. Homebody type. She travels too when we can afford it but she gets homesick a lot. I hated this place when I first moved here. There was some girl I met a while ago, we hated each other kind of but then we spent some time together and grew to care about each other. She's the one that got away. I would have liked to have met her in Paris. This was before Whiteny though."

"Where did you meet her?" Sam's face was still a moment and he was silent but then he said, "In the war. We fought together. She didn't seem like much but she was tough as nails. Saved my ass a few times from the..from the Republican Guard," Claire wondered why he had hesitated there. "You know a lot of people there never saw combat. It was a pretty short war," He said with a sigh. "But those of us that did, it was like Amageddon. Anyway, the war ended, the 90's passed on by. I never saw her again after that. But I always wondered if she was out there. Maybe by now she's in charge of her own team. She could have fought in the war on terror. She was always a giver."

"You seem to miss her. You sure you didn't..." He looked at her and she shook her head. "Nevermind," They continued driving and she then asked, "Well then how did you meet Whitney?"

"I was in a bad way after the war. It's hard readjusting to civilian life afterwards. I was on the streets of Portland, and other cities, grew my hair out. Thing is, I didn't want a buzz cut the way a lot of soldiers have them but I didn't want to look like some guy who was going to die in a gutter either. I got myself cleaned up but even with a shower, new clothes, I still looked like I was homeless. So I stopped into a barber in a small town. I'd never seen anything like it before. Granted, she doesn't know every style but she did good with mine. I'd never seen anybody cut hair out of their home I mean it was a barbershop but she lived there too. You just don't see that in bigger cities. Anyway, the rest was history."

They arrived at the place they needed to be. He parked and they got out. There was about seven zombies. He snuck up behind one dropping it to one knee and followed by breaking its neck. Claire drove her knife into a red haired woman's brain stem and she went down without much of a sound. The remaining five came towards them. Claire stopped one with a blade to the face ripping the man's left cheek as the blade sliced inward into his lip on the left side of his mouth and she tore the flesh open. It cried out in agony and hunger and she followed up with a kick to the face knocking the creature to the ground. She followed up with a kick causing it to bleed more but she also killed it as she brought her weight down on its skull.

Sam made short work of the remaining ones with ninja like stabs to their brains he dispatched of them with ease. He busted down the glass door to the building and she followed him inside and remarked, "For a guy who's never dealt with this kind of situation, you seem to be adapting better," Sam shrugged. "I've been around death before. Seen dead bodies. Heard death rattles, the burning flesh, the stink," His tone emphasized the word stink and he sniffed. "The only real difference here is now the dead walk. And you say it was this 'C virus' but I didn't really get to see the original attack so I don't even know how it kills you."

He looked outside almost towards where the corpses were and said, "The shitty thing is, I knew some of these people. Not all of them but I've had to kill a few men and women I knew. So did Whitney. She had to...kill a little girl she used to give haircuts to."

"I'm sorry," Claire said softly. "Nothing we can do about it now. It's just...you know we're not all related in this town. People here got relatives in other cities and states just like anywhere else. You say the last time this happened the government launched a missile right?"

She nodded. "The military couldn't contain it. The soldiers were a last resort to try and evacuate survivors and put down the B.O.W's but by the end it was too out of control. I don't agree with it. It's not like it stopped this from ever happening again. Neither did shutting down Umbrella. There's always supply and demand, I guess. I hate to say it but...when my brother was a cop he used to say if it wasn't for criminals he'd be out of a job. Well the same is true with what's happening here."

"Hey, it's not your fault, lady," Sam said. "Even if it's true, unless you were the type to create these kinds of epedemics and then come in as the relief, nobody can blame you for doing your job. And yeah you probably would have job. Pretty woman like you?"

She chuckled. "What would Whitney have to say about that? Does that line normally work for you?" He said, "Hey, just a compliment not a come on. Besides, the point is, the world would still turn if this shit wasn't going on. And even if you know that you might not have your particular job if thjis didn't happen, doesn't make it your fault. Just like it aint your brother's fault that there's crime and poverty. People like us, wherther we're soldiers, cops like your brother, nurses, or relief workers like you. We have a job to do. We don't always have time to ask the 'why' we just have to try and fix it. Isn't that good enough?"

"Maybe. Still, the world has enough problems without having to deal with B.O.W's. We had enough war and disease before the T Virus. Now it's not even limited to Umbrella. In a way, it's almost impossible to say what's worse. Having bioweapons be in the hands of a multi-national company like Umbrella or have terrorists that are all over the globe. At least with Umbrella it was easier to keep track of. Maybe if the BSAA was around when Umbrella was, this all could have been ended for good."

They made their way inside and began to search. "Found it," Sam Said. They removed the jammer. "I've seen these before. This is military grade. It's been a long time since I've been in the military but I know American gear when I see it. You think Uncle Sam is supplying Anubis with military grade equipment?"

"I don't know," Claire admitted. "It wouldn't be the first time they ever did something like that. I wish I could believe every politician was as good intentioned as Beneford Adams but most of them are like the late Senator Ron Davis."

"Oh yeah. That guy was a dick. I was glad to hear he died when he did. You know, in the event of an invasion, they'd expect us to protect the people and the politicians but I would have never fought for an asshole like that. I had enough commanding officers that were that way to deal with."

Claire sighed as she made her way over to a radio. It was from a deceased male who had been stabbed to death, his face unrecognizable from the stab wounds. "Here goes..." She said with a sigh as she looked at Sam.

Leon

He could hear gunfire up ahead and he knew there was a firefight not far from where they were. "Shit...we need to stay low."

Sherry nodded in agreement. "I'm not looking to get shot. I've been shot before. Back in Europe but it's still not pleasant."

They made their way across an ally as quickly as they could. They spotted the firefight. It was going on between the UN Security forces and Anubis insurgents. "We've gotta find Helena and Ark," He cursed as he stayed in cover behind a dumpster while Sherry reloaded after having just dispatched three carriers minutes earlier. "We need our guide. This is where he would come in handy," Sherry answered.

They spotted three Anubis members being mowed down. Sherry looked like she was going to call to them for assistance or directions but Leon put a hand over her mouth. "No!" He told her, "We're here unofficially. If they capture either one of us, it's over. The BSAA is here somewhere and the Security Forces are trying to ut a stop to them but it's just you and me until we find Helena and Ark," He whispered frantically.

They waited for an opening and started across another alley. They were both thrown to the ground, however as an IED went off. They had the wind knocked out of them. They rose to their feet. Leon looked to see three allied soldiers had been caught in the blast several more were wounded by shrapnel and a man was crawling without any legs leaving a trail of blood behind him like a snail.

An Anubis member grabbed a soldier who had been wounded by shrapnel and put a scimitar to his throat. "Sawf tuajih qaribaan hukmak min allh. 'ant ln tuharrib min alhukm al'iilhi fi hadha alealam 'aw alttali."

Sherry turned to Leon her blue eyes lighting up in fear. "What do you think he's saying?" She whispered. Leon shrugged. "I don't know. Without the translator your guess is as good as mine. But I doubt he's asking him if he knows his rights under the Geneva Convention," With that, the insurgent cut the man's throat and he bled all over the dirt. The Insurgent noticed Sherry looking before she ducked back into cover. "Al'amirkiin! 'aetaqid 'annahum mae wikalat almukhabarat almarkazia!"

Leon readied his pistol as the insurgent went for his Rifle. He fired five shots striking the man in the torso but he heard other men soon yelling in Arabic and Kurdish. The man fell onto the ground and Leon fired a sixth shot into his forehead. Soon, they were being fired upon. Leon grabbed Sherry's hand and they took off down the alley with the blonde woman firing over her shoulder striking one of the Arab gunmen in the abdomen. They ran north up the next street and Sherry noticed several allied soldiers evacuating the area. "Why are they retreating?!"

Leon looked up in the sky and then told her, "RUN!" She did what he said and they ran and that was when the bombs started to go off. A drone was sending missiles in the area. Buildings started to crumble as the explosions went off and they were thrown forward from the blast. Twelve insurgents were destroyed instantly by the blasts and five more were crushed by the debris. Leon hit the ground hard unable to breath . He stood up covered in ash and smoke, uncertain where Sherry was. He tried to catch his breath but he coughed as he fell back to the ground. He couldn't hear a thing. He spotted a police officer who had been on the side of the allied coilition laying dead from the rubble blood in the corner of his mouth. He started checking the weapons in the area. He examined a few Rifles but they didn't seem to work.

If they had worked before the explosion, they didn't now. Though his hearing was coming back slowly and muffled, he thought he heard Sherry screaming his name. He looked down not even realizing he had an AK-47 in one arm. He saw a middle eastern male in a baklava coming towards him with an automatic weapon. Leon tried to fire the weapon but it too, was damaged. The man kicked him in the gut and he fell over unable to breath. The man kicked him in the ribcage. "Kunt taetaqid 'annak ymkn 'an mjrd qasf buldanana dun eawaqib ?!"

The man forced him to his feet and then threw him against a large piece of destroyed wall. He felt the pain in his left shoulder and screamed. Leon cried out, "Sherry!" But even as he said it and could feel his lips saying her name, he could barely hear it. He spotted his Handgun and went to try and grab it but the man stomped on his shoulder. Leon screamed in agony tears forming in his eyes. The Arab male grabbed him by the hair. Just then, he saw a muzzle flash and the man went down holding his neck. The man collapsed choking on his own blood. He looked to see a red silhouette moving towards him. Another insurgent rushed towards her trying to swing his bladed weapon at her but she ducked under it and kicked him in the chest. She followed up firing her pistol twice into his head.

She grabbed Leon and suddenly he felt himself lifted off the ground as though he could fly. There were three more insurgents after them but he soon heard an explosion below. He was set down and he looked to see who had saved him. "Ada...what..."

She got next to him, crouching. He could hear her voice a little better. "This is going to hurt. Your shoulder was dislocated. It's a good thing I got to you when I did," He asked, "What. are you..." He couldn't finish the sentence. "Don't talk now. Just save your strength. On three...one..." With that she popped his shoulder back into place. "ARGHHHHH!" He screamed but she clasped a hand over his screamed into her hand. With that, she saw he had a piece of shrapnel in his right arm. "Leon, I hate to do this to you but we have to get that out of you. It could cause serious nerve damage, get infected..."

She got out a medical kit and began to cut the piece out. He cried out and she gave him a strap to bite down on. She did get the piece out but the strap had fallen out. He still screamed. Normally, he could handle a lot but a dislocated shoulder and debris, plus he wasn;t twenty-seven anymore. She silenced him suddenly by pressing her lips to his, kissing him. His vision blurred a bit and he looked up at her, though the world around him blurred more her face was there. Until he could no longer see her. But even as he was too weary to talk, her image was fresh in his mind as he blacked out, creating in him a sense of calm among the destruction.

Your cruel device
Your blood, like ice
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill

I want to love you but I better not touch
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison

You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

Your mouth, so hot
Your web, I'm caught
Your skin, so wet
Black lace on sweat

I hear you calling and it's needles and pins
I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name
Don't want to touch you but you're under my skin
I want to kiss you but your lips are venomous poison

You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

Run deep inside my veins
Its burning deep inside my veins
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill

I want to love you but I better not touch
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison

You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

Poison

I want to love you but I better not touch
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison

You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

That's all for this chapter, people, next chapter, I will show what's happening with Chris and Rebecca as Chris will get some indication of what is going on in the mall and why the infection is happening in Seatac. Also we'll show whether Claire and Sam are able to get a signal.

As far as Carlos and his team, part of that is a little inspired by the scene from Saving Private Ryan when Tom Hanks says, "This is why we don't take children" Basically along the lines of if you disobey orders you can get more people killed I guess that's the logic. Since Anubis is based on ISIS and they do some pretty horrific things to innocent civilians I wrote that reaction as far as Lars goes because I imagine a lot of people would have a hard time with that because your impulse would be to kill as many ISIS members as possible.

I also need to show what's up with Jake too and yes Sherry did get separated from Leon. Question is, do you think she's okay or is she in just as much peril as Leon just was?

As far as the lyrics posted Poison by Alice Cooper I think in a way it fits the relationship dynamic between Ada and Leon perfectly as far as how he must feel about her. Kind of along the lines of you have feelings for a woman even when you know she's bad for you. Leon needs to be red pilled and see that love is a Hollywood/Telanovela/romance novel trope.

You'll get a little insight next chapter as to who is behind the outbreaks. Let's just say it's somebody we've seen before. I know your instincts will be to say Albert Wesker or Alex Wesker. While I haven't ruled out Alex Wesker being here that is not who is responsible solely for what's going on. Let's just say there's more than one "Player" in this thing as far as who did it.

As in one outbreak is because of one person one is because of another. There is no major villain as far as who is behind the Oregon outbreak that was just some Anubis members looking to launch an attack and that's what they did. But this all goes deeper than you realize. I also want to say I haven't played Resident Evil 7 yet though I know some of what happens. So while thankfully this doesn't contradict my story as Revelations 2 did with The War Ends Now, I am not referencing the events in it but I won't contradict them either so this can somewhat be true to the Resident Evil 7 universe.

Maybe my next story will be post RE 7 though I have more time to do other stories now that The War Ends Now is finished.

Anyway, I want to update more often but I been busy trying to find more work.