HeroofDarkness2005: Thanks for reviewing as well. The only reason why I didn't write that Forest had died by crows was I thought it was add more to the character of Forest if I showed how one could actually become infected and show symptoms of the infection from another's POV. Plus…the thought that he died from crows was extremely lame to me. In this storyline, I wanted to incorporate that the crows had gotten to him after he expired.

To all others, thanks for reviewing and enjoy the chapter.

Five: Denial

Rebecca kneeled by Richard and turned him so he was on his back facing her. She quickly assessed the wound while Richard bit his lower lip to mask the pain.

"You're going to be all right, Richard," she encouraged him, taking out some of her medical supplies and rummaging through them. "This bite mark is huge. What happened to you?" Realizing her stupidity, Rebecca shook her head and got back to business. "From the looks of the wound, it seems as though you've been poisoned…"

No shit, Richard thought angrily, feeling the stinging from his lower lip starting to make him grow angrier. But how the hell are you going to fix it?

"I have some serum here I can use to slow the poison down some," Rebecca continued, finding the small bottle and taking a syringe out. "This is going to hurt," she warned, injecting Richard with the syringe and watching him open his mouth from that pain as well. "There's a medical room on the first floor that had more powerful serum in it. I can head down there and be back in no time, Richard."

"No, please!" Richard said in pain, wincing as the burning sensation in his shoulder reached his nerves. "Don't leave me here all alone, 'Becca! I don't wanna be left alone."

"Richard, if I don't get the serum soon, you're going to die. Don't you understand that? I can't help you if you don't want me to help. I'm scared, too; I'm more scared than you are, but that doesn't mean that I won't risk my life to save you either."

"I…I don't want you to end up like Forest," Richard said, his voice dropping. "I'm not sure if you heard me, but I told you he was on the balcony area and that he needed medical assistance. It's been too long now; Forest is dead by now."

Rebecca didn't say anything; she merely looked over at Richard and sunk her head low. "I need to get you that serum, Richard. I can't have you dying on me too."

"I'll…come with you," Richard suggested, using all the strength in his body to ease himself up. He fell to the floor shortly after, too fatigued to even move a muscle.

"You're going to hurt yourself like that, Richard. I'll be gone no more than five minutes; I promise!"

Just as Rebecca finished her sentence, she heard the door behind her open. She spun and aimed her Samurai Edge at the door, lowering it as she saw an Alpha team member step in, his green tactical vest smeared in blood.

"You!" Rebecca said in shock, the excitement escaping her voice.

The Alpha stepped forward and nodded his head. "Chris Redfield, Alpha Team. We're here to rescue you." Richard was ecstatic when he heard his friend's voice; if Chris Redfield was here, then that means that Alpha team had finally come to help them out. And when Chris Redfield was thrown into the fray, he was usually the one who could pull off the job, no matter how difficult it may seem.

He ran to Richard's side, kneeling down beside him while grabbing his arm. "Richard! What the hell happened to you?"

Chris looked blurry to Richard; the lowly serum was finally starting to kick in. His voice began to shake as he spoke. "C-Chris… This place… Get your team out of here. Demons…everywhere…"

Rebecca shook her head and looked toward Chris, pointing to Richard's wound. "Don't talk! He seems to have been bitten by a poisonous snake, but the size of the bite mark is huge!"

Richard scoffed. "It's…not just any ordinary snake… Take my word for it…"

"He needs serum," Rebecca said. "I left it in the medical room on the first floor. I would go get it, but Richard doesn't want me to leave his side."

Chris nodded. "I know where that room is; I'll go get it." It took no time after that for Chris to sprint the way he had come and was gone.

"Don't you worry, Richard," Rebecca encouraged, stroking his forehead. "Chris will be back in no time with the serum and we're gonna make you all better."

Richard was breathing very loudly; the fatigue was finally starting to get to him. "Tell me…where are the other Bravos?" he asked, coughing as he did. "Are they all alive…? Are they here?"

Rebecca's face sunk; she quickly turned away from Richard's sight. "Edward…he didn't make it. When we all got separated, I managed to find this train that was abandoned. When I boarded it, I saw these things wandering around…looked like they were human once…but not anymore. My first mission and I fired my weapon."

Richard wasn't sure what he could say to her that would make her feel any better. He remembered he had felt the same way he first fired his weapon in combat.

"When I continued my investigation, I found Edward wounded. I tried to help him but it was too late. He had lost too much blood before I made my way to him. And as I got power back to the train and headed back to the entrance, I noticed that Edward's corpse was missing. Crossing through cars, I saw Edward… eating one of the men I had killed earlier… He didn't even see me when I called to him; he just saw me like they saw me. Edward wasn't Edward anymore…he was one of them."

"He…became like one of the cannibals?"

Rebecca nodded. "It's a disease, Rich. I'm not sure how far it spread, but I do know that it's spread through at least a two-mile radius. Edward was covered in wounds caused by the dogs and cannibals, so I'm assuming the infection works like any normal one, by the transmission of blood or saliva."

"What about the others?"

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders. "When I made my way into the training facility, I managed to run into Enrico. He said he was heading here and went ahead of me while I investigated further. I assumed the others got here before I did, but when I got here…well…you can already assume."

The door behind Rebecca swung open once again and Chris ran through, dropping to his knees as he held a bottle of liquid to Rebecca. "Hope this is what you wanted."

Rebecca turned her attention to Richard and looked at him with a wide smile. "I'm going to give you a shot now, Richard. Hang in there, ok?"

Richard felt the needle puncture his skin like the other, but this one seemed to be more painful for some reason. The loss of blood had finally started to kick in, his blurry vision becoming even blurrier.

He looked over at Chris and took the radio from his side and handed it to Chris. "Here…take it… It's a radio… Take care of yourself…Rebecca…"

Richard sunk his head low and blacked out.

- - -

Richard opened his eyes and saw that Chris was sitting on the bed beside him.

"Hey, buddy, it looks like you're finally starting to come around," he said, lightly patting Richard's uninjured shoulder. "How are ya feeling?"

"What...what happened? Where am I?"

"We're in the medical room where I found the serum and brought it back to you. After we gave you the shot, you passed out and I carried you here."

"You carried me?" Richard asked.

Chris smiled and nodded. "It's not like I was gonna leave you there passed out and all."

"Thanks, Chris," Richard said, blinking slowly, his eyes growing more and more bothersome of the light just above him. "If this is the medical room, then maybe it's not too late after all. Forest..."

"Huh?"

"Forest...he needs medicine. He's dying. When we first got here, he was bleeding badly; he'd been bitten by these monstrous dogs and this crazed man. When we arrived, he could barely stand; I was carrying him wherever we went. I left him in the balcony area of the second floor to go look for medicine...but..."

"Richard... Forest...he..."

Richard looked over to Chris and saw that something was bothering him. He looked like he had something to say, but was afraid to say it.

"What happened to Forest, Chris?" Richard asked. "Did you find him? What happened?"

"Forest's dead, Rich," Chris replied. "The thing is, when I found him on the balcony, there was something very wrong. I couldn't believe it was him at first; I didn't want to believe that he was dead. When I went to leave, Forest got up...and I shot him."

"You what?" Richard asked. "You killed Forest?"

Chris shook his head. "He wasn't Forest anymore, Rich; he was something else...just like everyone else in this hell-hole. I tried to call out to him, but he couldn't hear me. He made his way to me and he attacked...that's when I fired."

"You mean...Forest became one of those things, too?"

Chris nodded. "I didn't think it was possible, but after speaking to Rebecca, she found a few files on the medical history of this thing. It happened to Edward, too."

"Yeah...she told me about that," Richard remembered, sighing his head. "So far it's only Kevin, Forest, and Edward, huh? Is the rest of the team searching around the place as well?"

Chris shook his head. "I'm afraid there's a lot of things you don't know, Rich. I'm not sure how long exactly you were in the mansion, but when we got here, it was a bloodbath. Kenneth's dead, too."

"Kenneth?"

"When we first arrived, we heard a gun shot. Captain Wesker told me to investigate, and that's when I saw that one of those things was ripping into him. I killed the cannibal and tried to revive Kenneth, but it was too late; his throat had been ripped out."

"Jesus. Anyone else? Are you guys here to get us out?"

"I wish it were that simple," Chris said, shaking his head. "When we first landed, we saw your helicopter. Joseph and Jill went to investigate while Barry, Wesker, and I searched the area. Joseph found Kevin in the helicopter all mangled up. On his way back to make his report, the dogs attacked him. I managed to pull Jill out just in time, but it was too late for Joseph at that point. We all ran to this mansion...but we lost Barry along the way. We're not sure where he is now."

Richard wanted to scream at the top of his lungs when he found out about Joseph, but he kept his head in the mission. "Where are Jill and Wesker?" he asked.

"I don't know," Chris replied. "When I came back to the lobby they were both gone. I don't know where they are exactly. But as I was investigating, I managed to run into you and Rebecca."

"Speaking of…where exactly is Rebecca?"

"Rebecca is taking care of some things that I wasn't able to," Chris said, smiling. "As young as she is compared to you and I, the girl's a genius; far smarter than I am."

Richard wished he could smile as well, but the realization that many of his friends were dead was something that stuck out like a sore thumb. He turned his head so Chris wouldn't be able to see him and sighed deeply; he was angered.

Chris got up from the bed and patted Richard on the shoulder. "There are some more things I need to check on, Rich," he said, sighing as well. "Sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news, but you were going to find out eventually. You just get some rest and wait for Rebecca or I to come back, ok?"

Richard didn't speak; he nodded his head, still not taking his gaze off the wall in front of him. Chris gave him one more light pat before heading out of the door.

After waiting five minutes, Richard grabbed his shotgun that was at the foot of the bed and sat up. He stood on his feet, wobbling as he did at first, and headed out of the door as well.

- - -

Richard took a deep breath as he entered the balcony area of the mansion. His heart was pounding and he was full of fear. Why? he didn't know himself. All he knew was that there was his friend on the other side of this room, and if Chris was right, that meant his friend came back to life...only to die again at the hands of his comrade.

Richard didn't bother to look up at all; he didn't want to see what he knew he was going to see. He stared down at the floor, taking short, deep breaths as he tread through. Forest was his best friend on the S.T.A.R.S., the man who he could count on when situations went sour. And now that Richard found out that Edward, Joseph and Kenneth had died too, what hope was left for him to survive this? The S.T.A.R.S. were being depleted at a fast pace.

His staring at the floor came to a halt when he saw a boot. Slowly inching his gaze nearer and nearer, he could see the sprawled-out body of his best friend.

Forest Speyer was dead.

Richard gritted his teeth and grabbed his hair. He knew this was what he was going to see, but being in utter denial before coming face-to-face with the corpse had made things much more difficult on his mind and soul.

He kneeled down beside the corpse and further inspected it. The bleeding from the wounds caused by the dog and zombie seemed to have ceased…but there were more wounds on his body now. Obviously after Richard left, something had managed to eat away at Forest's entire body, a small area of his ribcage was exposed, as well as tiny scratch marks that were about an inch or two apart from each other.

Talons? Richard asked himself, running his finger on one of the wounds, careful as to not disturb the corpse. Richard loved his job, but the one thing he hated about being a cop was that when it came to life and death, the corpse of your friend didn't matter anymore...the corpse of your friend was your job.

Richard silently cursed himself and felt a stinging sensation in his shoulder. The serum seemed to have been working, but to what degree? It could've been possible that the serum merely slowed the poison down, and it was just a matter of time before he bit the bullet and…

Something that Richard completely forgot about caught his eye. As he stared at Forest's pain-stricken face, he could see the perfectly circular wound caused by a 9mm slug. Chris had told Richard that Forest became one of those things and that he had to put him down…but how exactly did Forest become of them? The infection either had to be airborne or caused like any other infection, by the host delivering it in two forms, blood or saliva.

And if the infection is airborne, doesn't that mean we're all screwed? Richard thought grimly. No, he shook his head, if that were the case, we would have all been dead already…like you, buddy. Unless, of course, the infection spreads and takes effect after the body has flat-lined.

Richard threw the thoughts out of his head. Forest was fine before he had gotten bitten, and that's when he started showing symptoms: fatigue, fever, and shock, among other things. And if Forest turned into one of those things from the wounds he suffered from the dog and zombie, then did that mean that Richard was infected, too? Granted, a poisonous snake bit him, but it wasn't exactly something one would call "ordinary", much like the dogs that appeared to be bigger than the average Doberman.

"I'm sorry for this, Forest," Richard said, his voice carrying off into the wind. Nobody heard it...not even Forest; Forest would never hear anything again.

He turned around, gaining his bearings, slinging his shotgun forward and cocking it. One way to get revenge for Forest was to figure out what was going on, and if he found a guilty party, Richard would make them pay. He would take their lives like they took his friends' lives.

They would pay.

- - -

Richard made his way back to the medical room and saw that Rebecca was waiting patiently for him.

"Richard!" she called out in anger, obviously very upset that Richard had gotten up at all. "You know you shouldn't be up and running around yet; you need to get your strength back."

Richard grinned and nodded his head. "I'm sorry, Rebecca," he said, scratching his head and lowering it, hiding the smile that had come about. "I just...needed to check on a few things, that's all. Sorry if I had you worried."

Rebecca sighed deeply and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you, Richard? We're going to need to stick together if we're going to survive this, so I can't have you being a hero right now. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Richard smiled, saluting and walking back over to the bed. "If you will, Ms. Chambers," he said jokingly, raising his arm to her so she could inspect the wound.

"Tell me, 'Becca," he said, his voice dropping lower. "Is the serum we used the right one? I still feel kinda ill from the bite."

"Well," she began, re-bandaging his wound. "It isn't exactly going to heal in an hour or so, Richard. The serum I used should have healed all the poison in your body or else you'd be dead now."

"Jeez...way to be blunt."

"And it doesn't look like you're showing any signs of the symptoms like I saw in Edward, either. I don't believe you're infected or else you'd be unable to stand. You're lucky."

"Let's just hope my luck doesn't run out. Did you manage to run into Chris?"

Rebecca nodded her head. "He came back here to come look for us, and I guess that's when we were doing our rounds. He left this note on the bed, though."

Richard,

The fact that I'm kinda pissed off that you're not resting right now is going to have to wait until we get out of here so let me just get to the point. Behind the mansion is a Residential Area. I found a map for the place and memorized exactly where I need to go. I showed Rebecca before I had to leave, so if you manage to run into her, make sure you both follow my trail; who knows if I'm going to need the help.

I found some more shells in a cabinet with a broken shotgun, so seeing as though the shotgun was broken and I don't have one, I'm leaving the shells for you; put them to good use.

I circled the Residential Area on the map for you. If you don't run into Rebecca, it should be pretty easy to find; all the dirty work's gonna be done before you get there anyway.

And be careful...those zombies aren't exactly the only things that are wandering around out here.

- Chris

Richard flipped the pages and grabbed the map. Just like Chris wrote, the Residential Area was circled. He turned his attention to Rebecca.

"You know where this is?" he asked.

"Chris showed me the door before we left," she answered. "He needed to do some things ahead and so did I, so I'm assuming that's when he came back to tell you as well."

"All right," Richard nodded, taking the shells from the bed and placing them in his hip-pack. "High time I pay Redfield back for saving my ass."

Opening the door, Richard felt his stomach drop; who knew what terrors he'd run into when he hit the Residential Area...