Prologue

The night was cold and dark, maybe the coldest in weeks. The streets were silent and lonely, nobody dared to take a walk around the parks, but there was a place in the middle of all that bone chilling winds and grey snow, a place filled with sounds of laughter and broken glasses. Those sounds were like music to the ears of those in that place.

That bar was for many their second home, except for one of them, maybe because it was more like his actual home. Rare were the days in which he didn't come across those wooden doors and sat in front of the bartender. Rare were the days in which he didn't drink a full bottle of vodka and smoked nearly a full pack of red cigarettes. He just stood there, staring at an empty glass, counting the seconds to refill it. Even though he always stared at his glass, this time was different, something just didn't feel right. She approached him with a clean ashtray and placed it next to the bottle. The sound of the glass against the wood woke him out of his thoughts, making him jump scare lightly.

"Okay, now that's new" She said.

"What is new?"

"You being here exactly today of all the days in the year, and getting scared by an ashtray."

"What do you mean with today?" He knew the answer to that question.

"Do you seriously think that after five years of being my best costumer I would not notice which days of all you don´t show up."

"Do you seriously miss me that much?" Lara didn´t respond. She just gave him that same look she always gave him when he was hiding something. "I guess not" He continued with a very heavy voice. Even though his voice was already heavy and thick, this time felt a lot more heavily, like if a huge scream was trapped in his throat, but it wasn't it. His eyes were dark and his face pale. He looked like if sleeping was a long gone habit.

"Is everything okay? You look... different."

"Different?" He raised his head.

"Well, with those eyes you look like a raccoon" Alex took a deep breath. "And most importantly you just finished drinking that bottle and it's already dark."

"So?"

"You usually empty it by noon."

"I suppose it worries you that I'm not spending as much as always" He spat with a sarcastic tone.

"First of all, I can survive without your pennies, ese" She answered with a funny accent, just like his. He did not respond. "Alex...? For real, is something wrong?" He stood quite for a little bit.

"No, everything's just fine, Lara."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're a terrible liar?"

"Maybe is just the vodka kicking in."

"See? That has to be the worst one I have heard" She replied with a smile.

"I'm telling you that everything is just fine, I'm just... tired."

"And why´s that? The only thing you have done for almost five years is to come here and drink my booze."

"I pay for it, so it's actually my booze."

"Smartass" She laughed, but Alex stood silent. "Alex... I think you should go home and get some rest. It bothers me to see you this way."

"Just drop it!" He interrupted her with a raised voice. She opened her eyes widely. She even seemed a little scared. "Sorry" He apologized with a much softer voice. Lara placed her hand on Alex's.

"It's okay; just... promise me you're going to be fine."

"I will, and don't worry."

"All right, I will trust you on this. Would you like anything else?"

"Beer, dar" "–Dark, I know " She interrupted him. Lara reached a cold dark beer from behind the desk and then opened it "Here you go."

She left to the other side of the table, where some people were asking for drinks, food, and practically everything else any other bar would have, but Lara's was different, it wasn't just a bar. For Alex, for example, it was a place where he could just think and try to let go some things. A safe place with a friend in it. It was similar to a home for him, but no matter how many nights he spent on that bar before, this time nothing felt safe. He thought about what that white hair lady told him, how different things felt and how different he looked. Maybe Lara was right, maybe it was time to go home. He took his cigarettes out of his leather jacket as well as a dark, metallic lighter. He took a very long blunt to his cigarette and then exhaled a large column of smoke. He knew how terrible tobacco was for him, but nothing could be worse than what he experienced that night. He enjoyed smoking; it was relaxing and at the same time it made him forget about how cold the days were.

After a couple of minutes, he started to hear some steps coming from behind him. Even though there were a lot of steps around him, these ones were much clearer and louder. While he drunk another sip to his beer, a lady with brown hair and white skin sat right next to him. Lara came right away.

"Hey, what can I get you?"

"Beer, please"

"Sure, any particular one?" The woman turned and watched Alex while he drunk his beer.

"Give me what he´s having" Lara reached another dark beer and gave it to that woman, and then left to keep attending other clients. "Cold night, huh?" She said this time to Alex, who turned his head, a little confused. It was strange that a completely unknown woman started a conversation with him, actually, it was strange that anyone would start a conversation with him besides Lara, especially since he didn´t look like the friendly type.

"As cold as it gets" He responded.

"Yet here we are, drinking cold beer."

"Is there any other way to drink it?" He replied with a serious tone.

"Good point" She said. Silence between them started. From one side, Alex wasn't feeling comfortable. There was something about this woman that upset him. There was something in her that was incredibly familiar to him. He started looking at her. Her hands were both on the table, completely still. Her breathing was calm; he could barely hear her exhale. Her lips were small, her face clear and her eyes… he knew those clear, beautiful blue eyes.

He probably took a bit too much time to look at her. She turned and Alex looked away quickly.

"Is everything okay?" She asked with calm.

"Do we know each other?" He asked with his heavy voice. Her face changed from a confident expression to a surprised one and she looked away.

"I don´t think we do. Can I get your name?"

"That depends".

"On what?" She asked with a bit of curiosity.

"On whose asking" He replied with a much more serious tone.

"Name's Claire, Claire Redfield" That was it.

"And what is it that you want, Claire Redfield?"

"Just answers."

"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific."

"About what happened at Raccoon" Alex felt how his heart stopped for a second. He stood in silence. "I know you are one of the survivors" He turned his head and looked her right in the eyes.

"I don't know what the fuck you are talking about."

"We could use your help."

Alex took his beer, filled his mouth with the cold drink and then placed it strongly on the table, nearly breaking it.

"Listen, Claire. I don´t know who the fuck told you that that Raccoon City bullshit would be funny, but tell them the joke´s over" He got up from the bank, pulled his wallet out of his pants back pocket and placed some cash on the table.

"This round's on me, good night."

"We need you, you can save people."

"I don´t have time to play hero with you."

"And what do you do to be that busy? Spend every day of your life staring at the bottom of a bottle?"

"Every day but Christmas" He responded sarcastically. He started walking towards the exit, but Claire reached up to him in the entrance.

"Do you still have nightmares?" Alex stopped. "Because I do..." He stood there for some seconds, and then continued to walk outside the bar without turning around or saying anything.

The wind was strong and even colder than that beer. Snowflakes and rain fell from the dark sky in his face. Even if he liked the cold, this kind of cold was way out of his league; he could fill how his beard slowly started to freeze, how his rips and left arm started to hurt a little. One thing was for sure, he hated Chicago.

Alex couldn't believe what just happened. Someone asking him about Raccoon, about that chapter of his life that he would erase if possible, and not just some random person, but one of THE REDFIELDS; Claire Redfield, another of the survivors of Raccoon City. What was next? Maybe Chris Redfield was going to knock his door in the morning? Those thoughts were hard to stop thinking about, nearly as hard as forgetting about the cold.

The man took his cigarette pack out and opened it. Inside it, there was a lonely smoke placed upside down; it was the last of them, the lucky one. He took it out with one of his hands and squashed the empty pack with the other.

"So… this is it. Let´s hope you really are lucky" He said as he placed it on his lips. He took out his metallic lighter and opened it. The sound it made when he opened it was really delightful for him. Being out there with nothing but to sound of the wind really helped him listening it, not like at Lara´s, where he almost could not listen to his own thoughts. Alex rolled the ignition roll and sparks came out of the lighter. Just sparks. He tried it a second time, but again, he only got sparks.

Maybe it´s just the wind He thought. Turning to the opposite direction of the wind´s current could help, so he did. He was facing the street, and placed his left hand around it. He tried to ignite it a third time, but the result was the same, just as the fourth and fifth afterwards.

"Son of a bitch!" He said. While he was starting to become really angry at his lighter, something at the distance came across his sight. He stopped looking at the lighter, and slowly raised his eyes towards what called his attention. There was a black truck parked across the street, and it was pretty easy to see that someone was still inside it, right on the driver´s sit.

Alex slowly lowered his eyes, looking at his lighter, and ignited it for the sixth time…a small flame came on, dancing with the wind that came over Alex´s hand and lighted up his cigarette. He look at that truck again, and then turned around to continue his way.

He walked on the dark streets for another five minutes, unable to see much at the distance because of the storm, just how the smoke he breathed out danced in the wind and the how street lights continued their way. His apartment was not that far, just a couple of more blocks. He could finally leave all that just happened outside his door. The smoke was almost completely consumed when he saw that grey building at his left, finally, he had arrived. Alex gave a last smoke to his cigar and then tossed the filter into the disrty snow next to the sidewalk.

Searching for his keys was a pain in the ass, especially since his jacket covered with snow had a lot of pockets, for some reason he always putt the keys in a different one. He found his keys in one of the inside pockets of his jacket, and without waiting another second, he opened the door and went inside. It was cold, but at least it was a lot warmer than outside. He took the leather off and placed it on a coach and then placed the keys in the entrance table. He stopped and looked at the wall, where a small calendar hanged. He looked at the date, and placed his right hand on it.

October 1st He thought about that date over and over again until a couple of tears started to roll down his cheeks. A pure feeling of impotence and sadness took over him and then realized he was crying.

"I´m sorry… I´m so sorry" His voice was low and fragile, but then he started to feel something else, something violent. He grabbed the calendar with his right hand, and pulled it off the wall with strength, throwing it to the ground aggressively.

"Such an emotive date, don´t you think?" Alex heard a male voice coming from the right, and when he turned, he saw a dark figure sitting on an individual coach. He remained silent, slowly moving his right hand towards his back, and then felt a huge amount of pain at the back of his head. Before he noticed, he was lying on the wooden ground with two men behind him. Warm blood started to slide down his face. He placed his hands over his head and screamed in pain.