We roared low over the city, and in no time found ourselves skimming the treetops of the Arklay foothills. The fading light a fitting set piece to the silent dread that permeated the inside of the bird. What would we find when we reached Bravo's last-known? A million thoughts whirled in my head, none of them good, and my teammates were in similar straits if their grim expressions were anything to go by. I sat in the open door, NOD's down, the blue-white glow turning the landscape ghostly. Chris was opposite me, scanning for any sign of our friends. A small hand crept up my shoulder; I gently leaned in and felt it squeeze softly before retreating; I kept my eyes on the trees, but the unspoken message passed between us was clear.

I'm right here, Mike.

Got your back, baby girl.

"I've got something!" Chris's voice shot across comms, "Ten o'clock! Looks like smoke!"

"Put us down in that clearing Vickers, bearing two-one-five!" Wesker's voice was in control but strained; he almost sounded excited?

I kept scanning my side, checking clearings for any sign of a threat as Brad banked in. The second the skids touched down, we bailed, keeping low to avoid the spinning blades. Wesker held up a hand as I rounded the bird, "Kelly, I want you here with the helo on security, we may have to exile quick, we'll recce the area and call you if we find wounded, be ready to hustle with the extra medical gear."

I nodded, "Yes, sir." And flicked on my IR illuminator, scanning the perimeter of our landing zone as everyone moved out, pushing into the forest. Soon Vickers and I were left in silence, listening to comm traffic,

"Chris, Jill, push the left edge of the clearing, Barry, and Frost, push right."

A round of affirmations answered him.

"Do you think the cannibals are around?" Vickers asked, his voice shaking a little. A lot of people didn't like Brad, he had a yellow streak in him a mile wide, but not everyone was cut out for this shit. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt; he was in STARS for a reason.

"I don't know, but we have to assume they're all over this area, head on a swivel Vickers."

"R-right, sorry."

I kept my eyes on the forest around us, "Don't be, just watch your sectors and hope for the best, call it out if you see anything."

"Got it," His voice had a little timbre in it; maybe he was locking it up.

"Got a heavy blood trail here." Came Chris's voice.

"Eyes on the helo, get in there, move."

My chest tightened up; in a few seconds, we'd know for sure. Off to my right, suddenly, a dark shape flitted through the trees, and my hand tightened on my rifle; with a soft snap, I flipped the selector to "fire," reaching for my mic, "Break break break," I whispered, "Rear element has movement in the treeline."

"Oh, fuck!" Followed by the sound of someone retching over the radio was my only response. More shapes flashed by, so fast I couldn't get an ID. I kicked the IR laser on, ready to start mowing them down. The time for subtlety had passed.

"BREAK! BREAK on the net! Rear element has contact with unknowns! they're heading directly for the search team's position, how copy?"

Gunfire ripped through the night air, the deep booming of a shotgun, followed by the smaller reports of nine-millimeters.

Something howled in the dark.

"Fall back, back to the bird!" Wesker sounded on the verge of something, panic maybe.

I jumped into the helo, "Spin it up, Brad!"

His fingers were already flying across the console, and the rotors were beginning to move; I kept scanning; they'd be right on the team's heels by the sound of it. Seconds later, weapon-lights from the rest of Alpha pierced the darkness as they ran for their lives towards us.

C'mon baby, move.

My breath caught in my throat as Chris broke through the line first, running with everything he had before turning and firing into the darkness, covering the rest. Jill, Wesker, and Barry blew past him, seventy yards from the bird and closing.

Wait, where's Joe?

I couldn't see what Chris was shooting at, but I joined him, the soft crackof my suppressed shots almost lost to the rotor blades' roar, my IR laser playing over the trees, spreading rounds out to suppress whatever was chasing them.

Fifty yards. Jill stumbled; Barry grabbed her and almost threw her back to her feet, never breaking stride.

A shape broke the trees, moving low and fast, I snapped my rifle to it and fired ten rounds in rapid succession, not stopping to watch it roll into a cat-ball, thrashing.

Twenty yards. More shapes broke the trees, my mind barely registering them as distinctly animal.

Ten yards. I could see the blood on Jill's face and the absolute terror that shone in her eyes.

Without warning, the helo pitched wildly, Vickers was taking off…The thought filled me with horror for half a second before my feet slipped off the skid. I windmilled as Brad heaved on the collective, and for a moment, I felt weightless, until my pack crashed into my shoulders and shoved me out of the helicopter. I barely had time to register that I was falling when my face clipped something hard, spinning me to the forest floor and ripping my NOD's away. My rifle bounced up and hit me in the jaw to add the final insult to injury, something popped, and stars exploded across my vision. I already tasted blood.

Et tu brute?

"Vickers, you fucking coward!" Chris's muffled voice roared as the sound of rotors receded. I pushed myself halfway to my feet, ears ringing, someone grabbed my plate carrier and pulled me the rest of the way, my fingers finding and closing around the handle of my pack that had, miraculously, landed next to me.

"We've gotta GO!" Barry shouted, turning and running for the clearing's edge.

"Where's Joe?" I called out

"Gone!" Chris shouted as he ran, "MOVE!"

Fuck, Joe, goddamnit.

But I moved, running with all I had, Chris and Jill in the lead. The howling started again and chilled me to my bones. Wesker passed me, hauling ass until he reached the edge of the clearing, spinning to a knee, he fired over my shoulder, an animal yelp letting me know that he was hitting his mark. I ran, legs pumping, still unsure what was attacking us, equally unsure that I wanted to find out.

I blew past Wesker, "Last man!" My voice sounded off, and the dull pain told me something was wrong.

"Moving!" He called out.

"Covering!" I spun, again dull pain hit me, and the world spun for a moment, bringing my rifle up and hammering into the absoluteswarm of silhouettes that pursued us.

Wesker was running so fast I could've sworn he grew wings. "No, use Kelly, RUN!"

The movement behind him only intensified, so I turned and ran for my life, weaving in between trees, closing on Chris, Jill, and Barry's retreating backs.

"Head for that house!" Wesker yelled over the slavering howls behind us, howls that seemed to be getting closer. The structure rose ominously out of the forest, and for a second, I couldn't tell if I'd rather be in there or out here. Yipping and growling spurred me on, the front door getting closer and closer.

Almost there.

My lungs burned, but I could feel the pack closing in on me, and I'd be goddamned if I was gonna lose my life to a bunch of wild dogs. The mansion door coming up quick. We were gonna make it!

Impact.

Barry, Chris, Jill, and I crashed through the door, going down in a tangle of limbs, Wesker hurdled us, slipping and rolling across the floor. I mustered the strength and kicked the door closed, only to have it catch on the head of one of the animals, and for a moment, I got a good look at what had chased us here. Weeping sores and wounds covered its face, what was left of it, the docked ears screaming Doberman,but it just looked like a Dobi that someone had skinned and left outside for a week.

What the fuck? My shocked mind tried to place what it was seeing and failed hard.

Barry heaved himself forward, bringing his .357 up and blasting the thing in its mangled face, brains spraying the wall next to it, the tension gone, the door finally and mercifully slammed shut. I rolled over, trying to regain my feet when I noticed the blood hitting the floor like a broken faucet, the room tilting to the side.

"Oh, fuck." I mumbled, my voice sounding a little distorted, pain shooting across my face now that the adrenaline had worn off.

"Anybody injured?" Wesker called out.

I waited to hear that everyone else was safe and in one piece before I raised my hand gently, trying to keep the room from spinning,

"Captain."

He hurried over, crouching next to me, "Look at me, Kelly."

I looked up into his eyes, green met grey, and even the fucking ice-cube couldn't keep them from widening a little. "How bad?" I whispered, the small motions making me want to throw up from the almost blinding pain.

Wesker's eyes flicked over me, "It's not good, jaw looks broken. You're cut up pretty bad."

Jill was suddenly on her knees next to me, tears in her eyes, her voice shaking as she spoke, gently unsnapping my helmet and letting it drop to the stone floor with a sharpthunk "Hey Mike, looking good, buddy. Let's get you comfortable, huh?"

I nodded slowly, letting her and Wesker pull me to my feet and set me down on the stairs, my vision swimming. "Get my pack off," I sucked in a breath through my nose at the pain, smelling blood, a lot of it, "Main pocket, I need a mirror."

"Chris, Burton, set security."

"On it, Captain," Chris sounded strained, rattled. Chris didn't rattle. I heard him, and Barry spread out, watching the doors.

I felt Wesker gently lean me forward, Jill sliding my ruck off, she pawed through the interior, pulling out a signaling mirror and holding it up with shaking hands.

Well shit.

I had a black eye… easy day, but it was my jaw that stood out, a deep cut extended from the corner of my lip up to the hinge, blood slowly pumping out of it and onto the floor, bright red blood. My face must've caught the skid as I fell out of the helo. I pulled my glove off and reached up, feeling the edge of my jaw, not broken, dislocated.

I sucked in another breath, speaking through gritted teeth, "Okay, fuck…" I trailed off, the pain was almost overwhelming, and I could feel the edges of shock. "I think... I think the artery is open…gotta *Huff* gotta get that closed or else I'm gonna bleed out. "

Jill's eyes widened, panic, and something else there, "What do we do?"

I motioned feebly to the bag, "Main pocket, blowout kit."

She nodded, and Wesker held me upright as she reached in, pulling out the bag and handing it to me, I pulled the emergency release tabs, my Quickclot bandage front and center, "Bag of saline, front pocket….fuck….need to irrigate, hold the mirror so I can see."

Jill pulled the I.V bag out, handing it over, holding up the mirror, I popped the valve and sprayed the wound, clearing the blood and debris from the wound, trying not to think about the flash of bone I saw before the blood rushed in again. "My jaw is disloc-dislocated, it's probably what's keeping the artery in check, Jill I need you to glove up and put it back in."

She was already digging the nitrile gloves out of the blowout kit, "How?"

I mimed her thumbs in my mouth to stabilize, and then upward pressure to pop it back in. I pawed at the hemostatic gauze, Clutching it between my fingers, ready to slap it on. "Cap…Captain, I need you to push." I reached back and laid the flat of my palm on the back of my head, " 'ere."

"Okay, Kelly, Valentine, do it."

I opened my mouth, my jaw grinding and sending waves of pain and nausea shooting through me; Jill gently slid her thumbs along my teeth until she hit the back. "Okay, Mike, ready?"

I gave her a shaking thumbs up.

Shots echoed through the hall again, four or five, maybe, in rapid succession.

"Jill." Wesker's tone said it all as he braced a hand on the back of my head.

Hurry the fuck up

Jill nodded and pushed. Hard.

Pop!

I almost passed out, jerking in Wesker's arms and screaming, a rush of blood flowing onto the floor, darker now. I slammed the hemostatic against the gash, and the rush slowed to a trickle, before finally stopping, it looked like I'd been wrong about the artery, thank God. My vision tunneled, but the wracking pain in my jaw was gone, replaced by the much more manageable pain of a massive cut.

"You good, Kelly?"

I gave Wesker a shaky thumbs-up, "Yes sir, I think I've got the bleeding stopped…" My jaw would be sore for days if I lived that long, "just have to pressure dress it, and I'll be good to go. Give me half a minute."

He nodded, "Chris, Jill, go find out where those shots came from, Kelly, fix yourself up and go with them, Burton and I will secure the main hall in case you need to fall back in a hurry."

I was already pulling the dressing out of my kit; I slapped the bandage on, securing it with some surgical tape. It wasn't perfect, but it would hold until a doc could stitch my face up. I scooped my helmet, fighting back the pain as I slid it on and snapped the chinstrap, popping a couple of eight hundred milligram ibuprofen to keep the swelling down before repacking my bag.

Chris and Jill stacked on the door as I pulled my pack on, rolling my shoulders and following them into the dining room adjacent to the massive main hall.

Fuck everything about today.

I kept my rifle high, scanning the second floor, a ring-like balcony that ran the room's circumference. Chris took point, and Jill had our slack as we fanned out around a massive table, "Clear," I whispered.

"Clear."

"All clear."

"Got some blood here." Chris whispered, "Opening right."

I looked over at the puddle of blood he'd called out, right in front of an opulent looking fireplace. "Looks fresh, on the next door," I called out, rolling past Chris to take the room first, the knob felt gritty, like something was trying to keep it from turning, but the door swung open; I moved right Chris took the left, Jill covering our six. An empty hallway greeted me, stretching out for what seemed like forever; words like dark and foreboding were invented for this fucking hallway.

"Cle-"

"Holy SHIT! DON'T MOVE!"

I pulled my rifle up to high-ready and spun, blowing past Jill and rushing the corner where Chris's shocked, horrified, voice rang out. The smell of blood and something else hitting my nostrils, I rounded the corner to see Chris, his Beretta locked on a tall gaunt figure that shambled towards him through the shadows, arms outstretched like some parody of Frankenstein's monster. I hit the pressure switch on my rifle and bathed the room in eight-hundred lumens, and a nightmare greeted me.

I took in the prone body of someone in a STARS vest, twitching madly, blood splashed all over everything,the crowning horror was the man approaching us, his skin was the pale white of death, punctuated by the blood spilling down his front, peeling and desiccated, eyes milky and unseeing, but it still moved forward.

I froze,I fucking froze, shaking my head, trying to deny the thing's very existence.

"STOP!" Chris shouted again, and the thing moaned, a low, inhuman sound that turned my blood to ice. He fired two shots at being ignored, hitting dead center of mass, the thing kept coming like he'd thrown glitter at it.

How the fuck?

Put it down quick.

I snapped my rifle up, laying the reticle right over the thing's forehead and firing twice, the shots hit low due to the offset, plowing into the bridge of its nose and turning its head into a canoe. The body dropped straight down, but the grisly wound I'd inflicted, splitting its head like a melon, didn't bleed.

Like it was already dead.

"Fuck, oh, fuck." I whispered.

"Talk to me, guys!" Jill's voice came from behind us.

"O-one down, clear!" Chris called back, finally finding his voice.

I shook off my shock, remembering, and moved to the Bravo's body, almost unrecognizable under the gore, until I got close, "Fuck, Ken! Hang on, brother! Chris cover!" I dumped my pack as he looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes, and I knew there was nothing I could do. His throat was gone, ripped away, blood sprayed as he tried to breathe, but the slowness of it told me it wouldn't be long now. So I did the only thing I could; I bundled him up in my arms and whispered, "Ken, I'll take care of them, okay? Don't worry, I'll take care of them; I swear to God."

He shuddered hard against me, but his face seemed to relax, the terror leaving him for a fleeting second before he finally fell still.

I gently laid him back down and sat back on my knees, breathing deep, trying to keep the panic at bay, but it wasn't working; I started hyperventilating a second later.

That thing tore his throat out, eating him while he was still alive.

I looked over at the monstrosity; I'd stopped thinking of it as human. It was the furthest thing from. My ears started to ring, head beginning to pound as I came apart next to Ken's savaged corpse.

I wasn't fast enough and he died and that thing was eating him and oh GOD.

"Kelly?"

My head snapped around at Chris's soft whisper; Jill was at the corner now, covering still, but looking over at us with wide tear-filled eyes. Chris had his hand out, "C'mon brother, there's nothing we can do. We've gotta get back and tell the Captain."

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, a feeling rushed through me, harsh and unforgiving; by the time I opened them a second later, something else had taken the place of my panic and fear.

Resolve.

I wasn't losing another friend to whatever this nightmare was if I could help it. It ended with Ken, the quiet, fiercely intelligent chemist who had an ex-wife and two boys back in Raccoon, I wish I'd known him better, but I'd keep my promise all the same. I grabbed Chris's hand and let him pull me to my feet.

We collapsed back to Jill, she lingered behind to cover for a beat before joining us, her hand on my shoulder as we walked back to the main hall, I reached up, capturing her hand and squeezing. The small tender moment all we could allow.

Chris pushed the door open, "Captain?"

No answer.

I felt Jill's hand drop off my shoulder; I side-stepped Chris, bringing my rifle up and scanning the room, from the front door to the balcony and back.

Wesker and Barry were nowhere to be seen.

"Captain Wesker! Barry!" Chris called out again, stark silence answering him.

For a moment, nobody breathed.

It was just us in this sprawling house of horrors.

And I was fucking done.

"Chris, Jill, on me."

They closed the distance as I dropped my pack on the floor, rolling up the sleeves of my combat shirt, dropping the mag out of my rifle and stowing it my dump pouch, seating a fresh one and pulling a full mag from a side pocket, sliding it into the speed reload pouch on my hip. I unzipped the pack to its zenith, laying the gear out on the floor. A roll of detcord went into my thigh pocket, a "clacker," the firing device for breaching charges and other explosives went in the opposite pocket. I continued to strip ad re-pack gear, sticking some tightly packaged C2 in my pocket along with some pencil-thin blasting caps. I pulled out the AR pistol, unfolding the brace; a chest rig packed with magazines came last; I passed Chris the rig and the pistol.

"What are you thinking, Mike?" He asked as he slid the rig over his head, tightening the straps.

I slipped the Mechanix gloves I'd had for years back on and straightened up, pulling my helmet off and letting it drop, running a hand through my too long for a business meeting hair. My jaw throbbed as I glanced around the room, digging into the utility pocket of my chest rig, I pulled out my smokes and lit one, passing them around. Jill looked at me, expectantly.

I let a note of steel slip into my voice, leaving no room for argument, "I'm done being on the back foot, whatever is going on here is something straight out a nightmare, skinned dogs and undead motherfuckers running around, we've been a day late and a dollar short for months. It ends right here." I took a drag of my cigarette and told the truth; I needed Chris to know so he would trust what was coming next.

"I never told you what I did for CIA, Chris, the truth is I killed bad guys, I rooted them out where they hid, I tortured guys into giving up information, hurt them in ways that haunt me a little to this day. I was a murderous sonofabitch for years of my life. All for the same reason we're standing here right now because someone has to make them answer for the pain they've caused."

He just looked at me, his eyes giving away nothing, but I could tell he understood. I continued, "If we're gonna get outta here, if we have any hope of saving our friends, we're gonna have to drop what we walked in here with, we're not cops, not anymore. We're in my world now. We don't give anyone a chance, you see more of what killed Ken, you put 'em down hard along with anyone or anything that stands between us and our goal. Leave the idea of decency and fighting fair right here in this room. For Joe and Ken"

"And Kevin," Jill whispered softly, and I felt a fresh wave of pain rip through me.

Chris stared at me, working it out, but I saw the pieces snapping into place; the guy wasn't a dope. He nodded but said nothing.

"You trust me, Chris?"

"With my life," He responded without missing a beat.

"You too, Jill?" I knew I didn't have to ask.

"Say the word, babe." She gave me that killer smile, my little Valkyrie.

I flicked my cigarette onto the floor and ground it out with the heel of my boot, "We move quickly, the first floor is our jump-off, clockwise clearance moving upward, we hit every room in this house, anything gets in our way, we burn it down. Objectives stand, we find Bravo if there's any Bravo to be found, find Barry and the Captain, and exfil for repositioning and re-attack."

They nodded, and I smiled, remembering Ray and Connor and the hell we'd walked through together…What seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Let's get evil."