Hours had passed, Carlos's buddy Tyrell had shown up, wounded by a ricochet, and almost got shot in the face for his trouble; we'd stripped his weapons, and Rebecca was treating him, the guy seemed alright, but there was an intelligence radiating off of him that I didn't entirely trust.

Carlos also filled us in on how he and Jill had helped each other, securing evac for a group of civvies, how it had gone sideways, and finally how he had found Jill, infected and on death's doorstep, left to die by another member of his team. The BOW that had attacked me chased her all over the city after I thought I'd killed it.

Fucker was hardy.

I'd been pacing ever since the last check-in, watching Jill, according to Rebecca, we were all but out of the woods. But I'd lost her once, and it had been damn near unsurvivable. When Dagger had requested an update, I'd remembered that I was here to do a job.

"…Say again Oxide?"

"Confirmed Dagger, Secondary PC Valentine is alive and secured, but is WIA, Cat Bravo, Oxide Three is treating, but we need some time before we can move, how copy?"

"Dagger copies all, be advised Oxide, all friendly forces in the city have been overrun and are considered lost, National Command Authority is set to order a nuclear strike against the city in a little over twelve hours to contain the spread of the infection as well as any organisms."

I could barely believe my ears, "Dagger, confirm your last?"

"Dagger confirms, Oxide, we cannot risk those things getting out of the city."

This wasn't right, "Copy, Dagger, be advised, there are still civilians here. We have the vaccine."

"Out of my hands' Oxide, big picture time. You know the drill, stabilize your wounded PC, and exfil. We are routing a Delta team to you to assist."

The President was really going to wipe Raccoon off the map; I understood the sentiment, with god knows what running around, the best move was to vaporize the place, but somehow the greater good didn't seem to matter much when I thought about Clint and his daughters, or the barista that had stared Jill down the first time I hadn't come in for coffee alone, she was seventeen, pretty, had her whole life ahead of her.

There had to be some kind of chance for whoever was left.

"Dagger, Oxide Actual."

"Go Actual."

"Interrogative: If Oxide can centrally locate any remaining survivors, would pickup be authorized?"

"Wait one, Actual."

I tapped my foot; thankfully, I didn't have to wait long.

"Oxide, Dagger, if your team can find a way to get any remaining survivors to one location, heavy-lift birds are on stand-by to assist, but you need to hurry Actual."

"Actual copies all, will advise, out."

I killed the transmission and cleared my throat, "Okay, folks, here's the deal. The President is about to order a nuclear strike against the city. We have," I checked my watch, "Twelve hours and counting, and all of us know there are probably civvies stranded out there, we need to come up with some way to consolidate them and fast. Any ideas?" The TV over my shoulder made it hard to think with the constant blaring of the Emergency Broadcast System's looped messages…

Holy fuck, that's it.

"Rebecca, how far are we from the RNN building? Ten blocks?"

She nodded, her eyes lighting up as she cottoned to my plan, "A little less, I think."

"Could we get a broadcast out? EBS is in full swing." Connor asked.

Tyrell spoke up, "I could do it, it wouldn't be too hard to loop it in."

I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, "You're my new hero. Alright Oxide, new plan, we buster it over to the RNN building and get the message out. Rebecca, you stay here with Jill, Con' you stay with her.

I looked over at Carlos and his buddy, "You guys, really here to save civvies?"

Carlos nodded, "That was the plan."

"Well, it's put up or shut up time. Can I trust you to not shoot me in the ass?"

Carlos held my gaze, "I just want to get as many of these people to safety as I can, fuck Umbrella and their evil bullshit."

I searched his face hard.

He's serious, huh?

"Connor? Give him his weapon. My call."

Tyrell chimed in, "I'm with Carlos on this one, fuck Umbrella's bullshit."

I tossed him his M4, a grin lighting up my face, "Let's go save some people," I keyed up my radio, "Dagger, hold the Deltas, for now, OPLAN is to use the Emergency Broadcast System to spam a message to every television and P.A in the city, hopefully reaching as many civvies as we can. Moving to target will advise."

"Dagger copies all, holding QRF. Good luck, Oxide. Out.

Carlos. Tyrell and I stacked on the door; I glanced back at Jill, her breathing had steadied, color slowly returning, I blinked the tears away, she was alive, and we had plenty of time to sort through this mess.

Gotta get clear of this first.

I locked it up, getting the squeeze from Carlos, we pushed across the lobby and into the night.

Zombies, zombies, and more zombies, there must've been a sale. The streets outside the RNN building were packed with the undead, of course, they were, their moaning was so loud I could hear it from a few hundred yards off, the mournful sound still made the hair on my arms stand up, I knew in my soul that I'd never get used to that sound.

"Any ideas?" Carlos whispered.

I scanned the ruined street from our vantage point inside the lobby of a tire shop, nothing but overturned vehicles and dead bodies, the ones that weren't walking around, anyway. I let my eyes travel up higher, to a ruined corner market that was just too far from the roof of RNN to jump.

Suddenly an idea occurred, and an evil smile spread across my face. "Just one hermano," I keyed up my radio, "Dagger, Oxide, can you confirm air assets in play?"

"Wait one Oxide….Air assets are as follows, OGA Predator Callsign: Watcher, I believe you're acquainted, MH-6 times two, Callsign: Cain. Fast air is as follows, four A-10's on standby at Peterson."

"Copy Dagger, is Cain set up for CAS?"

"Wait one…Affirmative, Cain is almost bingo but can provide close air, rockets, and guns."

"Oxide copies all," I checked the Garmin on my wrist, rattling off my coordinates, which Dagger confirmed and relayed.

"Cain is inbound, time to target is five mikes, pushing you their comms now."

A second passed, and a new voice came over the frequency, "Oxide, this is Cain group of MH-6 times two, heard you needed an assist. Cain is armed with rockets and guns, no remarks, call the shot."

"Evening Cain, you heard correct, targets are one hundred plus foot mobiles, attack direction," I checked the Garmin and eyed the street, "North to South, Oxide is requesting everything you have in the bag, will be marking with strobes. Friendlies are in a tire shop three hundred yards south of target area."

"Copy Oxide, standing by for your mark, ETA thirty seconds."

I could hear the thumping of the rotors as I pulled an IR strobe from my vest, glancing back at Carlos and Tyrell, "Be right back, cover me."

I kicked the strobe on and vaulted over the edge of what used to be a plate glass window, running towards the horde. The MH-6's roared overhead barely forty feet off the ground, battering me with rotor wash as they moved into position. A few zombies broke away as I got closer, reaching out and shambling towards me, I cocked my arm back and hurled the strobe into the mass of undead, spinning and running my ass off back to cover.

"Cain*huff* do you have eyes on my sparkle?"

"Cain has eyes on, waiting for your go."

"Copy, stand by!" I covered the last fifty or so yards, jumping back over the threshold, "Cain, you are cleared hot!"

It was a dance I'd seen dozens of times before, but it never failed to impress. The lead MH-6 spun in a high arc, a hundred yards down the street dropping altitude and lining up, barely skimming the third floor of an apartment building as he started his run with his buddy behind him. The whine of the miniguns reached my ears a half a second later, the heavy seven-six-two rounds chewing through the zombies like a woodchipper, spreading blood and body parts all over the block in a ballet of firepower, the trail helo fired off his rockets a moment later and bathed the street in fire and shrapnel.

When the smoke cleared, nothing moved.

I stepped out of the shop, waving to the two hovering birds, keying my radio, "Cain, Oxide, Great guns, Delta Hotel, Thanks for the assist guys, first one's on me!"

The lead pilot saluted me, "Happy to oblige Oxide, Cain is RTB, don't be a stranger!"

"Never by choice, Cain, stay safe."

The two helos pulled up and away, leaving Carlos, Tyrell, and I alone in the carnage.

Carlos whistled as he surveyed the destruction, "Fucking Uncle Sam, huh?"

Tyrell chuckled, "I forgot how nice it was to have air support."

I grinned as we made our way to the front door of the T.V station, "Never gets old boys."

We breached through the door, checking the first floor methodically, dispatching a few zombies where we found them. Carlos and Tyrell may have been Umbrella, but they knew their business, and they hadn't shot me yet, serious brownie points.

"Clear," I whispered as we made our way to the main broadcast room; blood covered most of the place, zombie corpses lying all over, some decapitated, others looking like someone had split their heads with an ax. A ruined body lay in the corner, torn to pieces, a machete in the almost skeletal right hand, the left was entirely absent, torn away no doubt, someone had died hard in here.

"Jesus," Carlos whispered.

I've never been a religious man, but I said a quiet prayer for the soul of that machete-wielding badass. "Well, they went out like a beast, let's make it count and get as many of these people out as we can."

"Fucking A right." Ty whispered, walking over to the console, his finger playing across it, "I can loop us in; it's gonna take me a minute."

I nodded, "Good shit, man, Carlos, can you keep him company? I'm gonna check in."

Carlos flashed me a thumbs up as I dug a smoke out of my vest and lit it, "Oxide Actual to Two, Sitrep over?"

"Good to hear your voice, Actual, Situation normal, PC is stable, resting as we speak."

I breathed a sigh of relief, the thought of the vaccine failing was never far from my mind, especially with how long she'd been infected, the virus had burned me out, and I was infected for two hours tops," Actual copies, we have reached the T.V station, cutting into the broadcast as we speak. Will advise, stay safe Two."

"You too Actual, standing by for your word. Out."

I glanced around the darkened interior of the building, taking a drag off my smoke; so many people had died, so many lives ruined, nobody that made it out would ever forget the last couple of days, I knew I wouldn't.

"Kelly?" Carlos's whisper made me jump a little as he walked up next to me.

"Jesus, bud, not the time to be creeping on people." I finished with a smile despite my pounding heart.

He chuckled, "My bad, got a spare?"

I nodded, fishing out my pack and shaking one out, lighting it with a snap of my zippo.

Carlos took a drag," Ah, that's good, I quit, you know? Five years, but if there was a fucking day for it."

"Amen bud," I thought for a moment, staring into the dark, "Listen, thank you, for taking care of Jill, for keeping her alive. I owe you more than I can tell you for that."

He shook his head, "She's a badass lady; she mostly took care of herself."

I snorted, "Don't I know it. We were in STARS together, same team and everything, she's something special."

"You two together?"

I sighed, "We were, some shit went down, and I had to leave for a while; I'm hoping we can pick it back up, but who knows?"

He looked back into the darkness, "She's a catch, if you pissed her off, I'd fix it out of sheer self-preservation."

I chuckled; he wasn't wrong; I opened my mouth to tell him so when Ty poked his head out of the booth, jerking his head back towards the interior of the booth, "We're ready."

I walked in, Carlos trailing behind me, "How do we do this?"

Ty motioned towards a microphone, "Record a message, with a few extra keystrokes, I can broadcast it all over the city."

I nodded, "Okay, first we have to establish where we're sending these people." I keyed up my radio, "Dagger, this is Oxide Actual, we have accessed the EBS, I need ISR to push me a clear location."

"Copy Actual, we've been working on that, ISR shows a minimal concentration of infected around the Chase building on Adams Street, advise you send the civvies there. A team is being routed to drop flares for the civvies to signal for evac. We're as ready as we're ever going to be."

"Copy that Dagger, recording the message now, will advise."

I leaned forward, waiting on Ty; he gave me the nod a second later, I took a breath and began to speak.

"Attention all survivors in Raccoon City, this is the United States Government."

Big dreams huh, Kelly?

"In approximately nine hours, a nuclear strike will be initiated against this city in order to contain the infection. If you can hear my voice, proceed to the Chase building on Adams Street, there will be flares on the roof to mark your position for evacuation. We will be looping this message every ninety seconds for the next eight hours, we haven't forgotten you, people, get to the building, fire those flares, and we will find you."

I flicked my hand across my throat, Ty nodded, and second, later my voice reverberated through the streets, I only hoped there was someone out there to hear it.

"Ya know? After we get out of this shithole, I don't believe I'm gonna run anywhere ever again," Ty puffed out as we ran back towards the hospital, keeping an eye out for zombies and any other fuckery that lay in wait.

I laughed, "Fucking right, man, I need a beer."

"Amen, more than a few," Carlos added.

I thought we were home free.

So when the drug store thirty feet to my right exploded in a shower of bricks and something from my nightmares stepped through the rubble, I was a bit taken aback.

My buddy had had some time to re-invent himself.

The BOW was standing on all fours, tentacles and spikes adorned its skin, and it only had eyes for me.

"Ah, fuck," I never took my eyes off the thing, "Guys, go, get back to the hospital and have Connor radio for evac."

"What are you gonna do?" Carlos whispered, staring at the thing with wide, horrified eyes.

"I'm gonna play some whack a mole with this fucker. If I don't make it tell Jill to remember…I've got her back."

The thing stomped forward, bellowing madly, I nodded at Carlos and spun, running with everything I had towards the nearest building, a broken down coffee shop that I prayed had a back door. I could hear the shitbag gaining ground, and I knew I didn't have a chance of outrunning it. I dove right through the front window, glass cascading around me; the thing hit the wall a half-second behind me as I rolled to my feet and hurtled across the counter. I crashed into the back room, scanning and finding a heavy steel fire door; I had to get out of here, had to survive.

Had to lead it away from Jill and Becca.

I hit the door with everything I had, the back alley that greeted me was full of zombies.

"Fucking really?!" I groaned, spying a fire escape, it's ladder half extended.

Well, that'll do.

I ran forward, the horde reaching for me, scrambled up a dumpster, and jumped for the ladder, barely catching the bottom rung as my buddy came crashing through the building behind me. Rung after rung, I climbed, pulling myself and my gear up onto the fire escape, the BOW roared only a few feet beneath me; I didn't think, just jumped through the first window I saw, the thing's massive claws ripping the catwalk off the side of the building with a shriek of metal on metal. The impacts as it climbed after me shook the dust from the walls.

I worked my way through the apartment, trying not to think about the kid's toys, covered in blood, that were scattered all over the floor, keying my radio as I ran. I knew what I had to do now, this thing would never stop; after it killed me, it would head straight for the hospital and finish the job.

I couldn't let that happen.

"Dagger, this is Oxide Actual, BOW from previous engagement is alive and pursuing. I'm in an apartment building, blocked in pretty hard Dagger, I need fast air. Are those A-10s still on standby?" I crashed into the hallway, heading for the stairs.

"Dagger copies Actual, A10s are in the air, five miles from the city."

I took the steps two at a time, stopping only to drop a shambling zombie, the corpse pitching forward and sliding down the stairs to crash in a heap on the landing below me, "I need 'em Dagger, on my pos, my call. I'll be marking with flares."

"Confirm your last Actual?"

The stairs shook, I glanced over the railing to see the BOW eating up territory as it climbed after me with frightening speed, "Actual confirms, drop this fucking building, Dagger!"

"…Dagger copies all, A10's are rolling in, time to target two mikes, see you on the other side Actual."

I smiled sadly as I ran for the roof, "Not if I see you first, Dagger, tell my family I love them. Actual, over and out."

Two floors from the top and the thing was still smashing its way up the interior of the building, tearing through wood and metal like it was paper; its roaring told me that it was pissed at being denied the kill for so long.

That made two of us.

One flight left, I pulled the flares from my vest, igniting them as I ran, the red-tinged smoke billowing. Thoughts of Jill, Rebecca, Chris, my Mom and Dad, Connor, everything I cared about in this world flashed through my mind as I thundered up that last stairwell, the end of my life only a few short steps away. I hit the door to the roof, bursting out into the night air. It was clear for now, but my boy was hot on my heels, the roof shook, I had seconds, my radio crackled.

"Oxide, this is Demon, flight of two A10's inbound from the west, we see your flares, understand it is your call to fire on your position."

"Copy Demon, my call, light it up, boys."

"Godspeed Oxide, TOT twenty seconds."

Jill and Becca would be safe, and that was all that mattered; I pulled my smokes out, lighting one with the burning end of the flare, savoring it.

"Ready?" A voice whispered in my ear, filling me with warmth all the way to my soul.

I smiled, "Yeah, babe…I am."

The roof erupted, the BOW clawing its way out of the hole, murder blazing in its eye as it came straight for me. A voice crackled through my headset.

"Rifle."

There was a ripping screech that drowned out the roars of my own personal nightmare.

And the world exploded.

A/N: Yes, I went off on my own here. Mike's presence, along with what he can bring to the table, would change the whole dynamic, and I wrote to try and reflect that. Read and Review. I'd love to hear what you guys think