This update brought to you by some kick-ass tracks from Brit band We Are The Ocean, getting me in a good enough mood to shift my rear in gear. Also as I'm in a good mood because my exams are done, done, done!

I'd also like to give a shout out to evolution-500 who's been pretty brilliant at pointing out typos, grammar errors and various other mistakes I've made writing this. I'd also recommend checking out his story A Star's Descent. It's good. Really good.

The Pelanoi Accounts

Chapter Ten: Unpleasant Encounters of the Close Kind

The Survivors

Barricaded in the lobby of the Pelanoi Wildlife Preserve Ranger Station, the group of ten adults plus one teen pondered their next move. The attack from the invisible BOW outside had shaken them all, but they had overcome the odds once again. Were it a unit of trained soldiers, Tiffany had little doubt there would be several wisecracks and jokes underlying their relief at having survived a seemingly impossible situation.

Unfortunately, all save one were civilians. Certainly a hardier sort than most, but civilians nonetheless, and the fatigue coupled with the attacks and the threat of the black ops team had them all on edge. Leaning against the wall next to the entrance Randolf wouldn't stop rapping his fingers on the handle of his boat paddle; close by sat Ethan who kept twitching every few moments. Further along was Ellen, who gave off an even frostier aura than she had before. In another part of the lobby Sydney was clutching the hilt of her bat so tight her knuckles were white and even Kit seemed out of it, pacing up and down next to the reception desk while Cassidy had her hands shoved into her pocket and seemed to be fiddling with something inside them. Observing all of this was Nick, who was crouched next to the tired teenager, Mary, who had propped herself on a steel chair, while she caught some more Zs, Nick, fulfilling his role of guardian was warily eyeing the rest of the group as if he trusted them all about as much as the monsters prowling the island.

Only Sema, and, strangely enough, Leah, appeared to be restraining their nervous habits, though Tiffany wondered if their comparatively serene expressions were a simple façade that would fall apart if she pressed too hard. The atmosphere was tense and the stink of gore and the groans of the dead echoing from deeper inside the building helped none. Even more concerning was the soft hiss that Tiffany was convinced originated from that infernal creature they had escaped mere moments ago.

Or had they?

Aside from the muffled groans and clatter of various equipment and loose items the walking dead stumbled into and knocked over in their drive to rend and tear and feast and the low hum of machinery… wait…

Machinery?

She sat bolt upright and got up off the floor, striding purposefully towards the reception desk. She vaulted effortlessly over and almost tripped over a headless, half-eaten body. Stifling a cry of revulsion she regained her footing and checked the receptionists' side of the front desk. Two consoles stared at her; one smashed and bloodstained, the other dull but definitely on.

She took hold of a small black computer mouse and wiggled it. Sure enough the screen flashed and a login screen winked into existence. 'Your session has timed out. Please log in.'

Tiffany breathed out a curse. Of course it wouldn't be as simple as that. The young marine captain glanced at the body, then back to the screen. She released a heavy sigh before ducking beneath the desk, slipping her fingers into the pockets of the cadaver, trying not to think about the drying blood that felt like sticky jam and the smell of raw meat.

'What are you doing?'

Kit's voice penetrating the sullen silence made her jump. She glanced up at him staring down at her, curiosity present in his expression. She noticed that the others were also coming closer, her sudden action arousing their collective interest.

Kit saw the body and Tiffany's hand halfway into a trouser pocket. He gave her a questioning look.

'Um…' she started, 'it's uh – ahem.' She cleared her throat and decided to start from the beginning. 'You hear that?'

Kit and the others paused, some tilting their heads to better listen.

'What? The ghouls and the mess they're no doubt making?' Randolf said after a moment's listening.

'No. The machinery. You can hear it humming.'

'So?' The Australian man asked, raising an eyebrow.

'So this place still has power. Maybe we can access the security and see what we've got here. The receptionists' desk needs a password to log in though, I thought that…' she trailed off as she properly took in the sorry state of the corpse she was searching. The head looked as though it had been well and truly gnawed off, the left arm was missing, as were both legs below the knees, and the stomach of what had once been a man was ripped open. Most of the innards were gone and there was so much blood that it was impossible to tell the original colour of both shirt and trousers.

'God…' Tiffany murmured. She had seen this kind of carnage, worse even, in Elspeth City when the shit had truly hit the fan but there she had been near constantly on the move. Now she had time to actually take stock of it all…

She threw up before she could so much as brace herself, soaking the smooth, blood-slick floor with her mulched-up breakfast (which had consisted of two candy bars washed down with water, and she suspected the others all had similar meals). She stayed in her hunched over position for a minute, her eyes fixed on the bloody carcass. Finally she withdrew her hand and turned away, unable to look any longer, taking deep breaths to calm her roiling insides.

'You okay?' Kit asked, concern lacing his croaky, tired voice.

'No,' she replied, 'but thanks for asking.'

She took another breath before picking herself up off the floor, steadying herself against the desk, shutting her eyes, waiting to see if her stomach would try expelling its contents again. It didn't. She turned to face the others, who, thankfully, had given her a little space.

'Okay,' she began, 'we clearly aren't going to get much done here so we've got to go deeper–'

'That's what she–' Randolf began before a sharp look shut him up.

'As I was saying, we need to head deeper into the building. Maybe we'll find a security room that we can use to scope out the rest of the place.'

'Or the vehicle bay with a working van if we're really lucky,' Ethan muttered.

'Luck's not been much of a pal so far, why would it start now?' Sema murmured under her breath, her frustration and weariness plain for all to see. Tiffany raised a brow at the defeatist attitude but didn't say anything, chalking it up to fatigue and one life-threatening situation after the other. She glanced at the screens on the desk again, her gaze lingering over it until finally it rested on a set of drawers to the right side of the desk.

She wasted no time and reached for the top drawer, pulling it open. A lot of files with reports on visits, a few pens and a highlighter and…

She felt a triumphant grin spread across her face as she pulled out a set of keys and jangled it in front of the group.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, sceptical, 'Okay, that'll make getting around easier but–'

Going for the hat trick, Tiffany reached inside that same desk and pulled out a map of the facility. Ethan shut up.

Everyone clustered around the map, currently they were in the reception area, and the vehicle bay was on the other side of the building. The security station was just beyond a server room past a few nondescript corridors, not far from their current location. Moments later they were off deeper into the facility and the groaning of the dead began to increase in volume.

'Can't tell any of you how much I wish he'd shut the hell up,' Ethan muttered.

'Ditto,' Leah murmured in agreement. Ellen said nothing, but inclined her head softly.

'Well I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to tell him yourselves,' Tiffany said as they stopped outside the server room, 'because my ears are telling me he's just beyond this door.'

Everyone tensed and placed firmer grips on their weapons.

'No firearms,' Tiffany warned, placing a hand on the door handle, 'we really don't want to damage anything and we've got precious few bullets as it is.' No sooner had she finished speaking when Ethan looked as if he'd been thunderstruck. Pausing, he reached into his pockets and retrieved four bullets before handing them to Ellen.

'Think they'll fit your gun.'

Ellen stared at him a moment, 'You didn't think you could have given these to me earlier?'

'Earlier I thought if I gave them to you, you'd shoot me.'

'You think I'd jeopardise our collective safety – and by extension, my own safety – by shooting an extra pair of hands?' She shook her head before taking her revolver out, ejecting the spent casings and loading the four shots.

'Thank you?' Ethan offered.

'Bite me.'

'Fuck you then.'

'If you two are done?' Tiffany said, tapping her foot impatiently. Ellen replaced her weapon and drew her combat knife. Ethan glowered at her for a moment before hefting his battered fire axe.

'Yeah, yeah, let's break some heads. Rah, rah, rah and all that crap.'

Tiffany pulled the door open and Ellen and Kit rushed inside. The groaning reached a crescendo and collectively, everyone realised that there was more than one.

'Five!' Ellen shouted as she avoided a clumsy swipe from a zombie whose lower jaw hung from a loose strip of flesh. Kit meanwhile, had rushed almost straight into the open arms of a zombie wearing a Park Ranger's uniform. The rotting foe enclosed its arms around Kit and lunged for his face. Kit reacted instantly, diving into the attack, letting the slavering jaws of the dead man pass just over his head. He winced as he felt its teeth clamp onto a lock of his hair and tear.

Kit suppressed a yelp of pain and drew both hands inside, placing them firmly on the dead man's upper body before hunching himself low and pushing with as much force as he could muster. The attack both pushed the zombie off balance and allowed Kit to slip out of the creature's embrace. Recovering quickly, Kit raised his crowbar and drove it three times into the fallen monster's skull.

While he was preoccupied with his own opponent, Ellen dispatched her foe, planting her knife into the zombie's skull with a sneer of contempt contorting her features. She felt cold arms grip her as one of the other dead cloistered in the room lunged at her, its head lowered to take a bite out of her neck. One arm was pinned by the zombie's deceptively strong grip while the other was gripped on the knife which was still stuck in her original opponent's cranium.

A paddle smashed into the head of the zombie, batting its head to the side and knocking out several teeth. Using the distraction, Ellen relinquished her grip on her knife and turned herself around; gripping the zombie's own arm and slamming it face first against a computer server, holding it steady as it gnashed and snapped. Clearly she had forgotten her opponent was no longer human, or even among the living, as it suddenly twisted with enough force to dislocate its own arm. Suddenly Ellen was the one unbalanced and the zombie was diving for her throat, its horrible, red maw opening like a great abyss, yearning for its hunger to be satiated.

The creature's head split like a ripe melon as the head of an axe buried itself in the top of the monster's cranium. The zombie stumbled before collapsing in a heap at Ellen's feet. Ethan and Rolf stood behind her, Rolf guarding the two while Ethan tugged at his fire axe. As he was working he glanced up at Ellen.

'Can I get a thank you now?'

'Bite me,' she replied again, but there was the ghost of a smile on her lips and something Ethan could almost mistake for gratitude in her eyes.

'Hm. It'll do,' he grunted.

The remaining two zombies were a good deal further away, deeper into the server room, too far to be too much of a threat. They were dispatched anyway. The fewer surprises the better as far as everyone was concerned. Tiffany unlocked the Security Room (noting the scratch and bloody hand-print marks on the outside of the door) and they stepped inside.

The room was fairly spacious, a desk sat at the far end of the room with at least a dozen monitors and a mouse and keyboard perched atop it. Sat in front of it was a chair, as well as the body of a Park Ranger who was missing the top of his head. A revolver was clutched in one hand and his left arm was a mess of savage bites. There were no doubts as to what had occurred here. Ellen relieved him of the weapon and checked his pockets for any extra bullets, finding five. She left the gun on the desk, and eventually Kit took it.

A small table sat in the centre of the room, a tiny thing with coffee stains peppering it around the edges but was otherwise a dismal sight. A set of lockers sat just opposite it at the other end of the room and it was here that Tiffany was most interested in. She took the keys and began trying each of the locks. To her surprise most of the lockers were already open. Disappointingly these same lockers were also empty, save for an empty tranquiliser gun. The final two lockers opened without much further fuss. The first of which contained a brown bomber jacket and a set of trading cards, as well as a photo of a smiling family on the coastline, the sight of which made Tiffany's heart ache.

On the final locker they hit pay dirt.

The vehicle keys could not have been anything else, and the sight of them drew many a breath of relief from the exhausted survivors.

'All right, once we get out of here we drive down to the coast and then–'

A low hiss, full of threat and the promise of bloodshed, reverberated through the room. Everyone froze.

'We really can't catch a goddamn break can we?' Randolf groaned.

'Everybody out!' Tiffany bellowed. In seconds they were back into the server room–

– and into the open jaws of the snake.

The Mercenaries

'Form up! Guns out!'

In seconds Grey Team formed a tight circle, weapons scanning the grass for even the slightest hint of activity. If the BOWs surrounding them were invisible, then watching the grass would be the only warning they would ever get.

'Jenkins, I want as much high explosive on our surroundings as you can put out and I want it five minutes ago.'

Alaina looked at Elias as though he'd asked her to marry him, her eager, psychotic grin complimenting her impish features. Unhooking a bandolier slung across her body, she retrieved every grenade (and there were a lot of grenades) before priming them one after the other, her fingers moving so quickly it was almost inhuman and in the space of a second more than a dozen explosives whistled through the air to land a comfortable distance away from Grey Team.

'Fire in the hole!' Alaina roared. Grey Team ducked as one as the first of the explosive charges detonated, swathing the grasslands in torn mud, shredded grass and burning meat. The dust did not settle for almost five minutes, and in that time Grey Team had their fingers on triggers and were looking for anything that so much as dared to poke its misshapen head through the thick clouds of particles.

'Wow,' Natalia murmured in admiration as she observed the carnage. Tech whistled appreciatively and Alaina observed her work like a proud mother observes her child. The ruined carcasses of three of the invisible BOWs littered the craters that had once been a part of the grassland.

'Good work,' Elias grunted. Alaina inclined her head and racked her shotgun. Elias almost smiled under his gas mask. Not one of them had any doubts that there weren't more of the creatures that had doubled back from Alaina's firestorm. True enough, moments later the hissing was back, and it had risen to a fever pitch.

'Maintain formation. You see anything so much as twitch funny and you riddle it.'

A chorus of affirmatives followed and then, aside from the hissing, a relative silence followed as Grey kept their eyes on the tall grass.

'Incoming!'

The warning came from Viper, his strange helmet distorting his vocals. Any other unit would have focused on Viper's strange voice rather than any imminent danger.

It was just as well then, that Viper was not working just any other unit.

Each one of the mercenaries scattered as a yawning, reptilian maw lunged for the centre of their formation, passing harmlessly by as the mercenaries rolled out of its path. Each of them brought their weapons up in moments, and each of them came face to face with their own monstrosity.

Viper acted first, opening up with his G36C, perforating the creature from head to tail but the wounds only seemed to enrage the BOW and it coiled in on itself and pounced in the time it took to blink. Viper displayed no hesitation, dropping his gun – it would be useless at such a close range – and instead unsheathing his combat knife. The BOW leapt and Viper ducked underneath it, but kept his knife at a steady level, allowing the snake to rip itself open on the razor sharp edge. The monster hissed as its guts pooled out into the grassland and finally lay still. Viper took a moment observing the reflective hide of the creature and its entirely visible innards before reaching into a pouch and taking out a medi-wipe and a small, glass beaker. Reaching into the guts of the creature he took a swab before placing the wipe inside the beaker and replacing it in the pouch. His task finished, he turned from the carcass to see how the rest of the team was doing.

-X-

Alaina was the fist of God. Her blood was up from her fiery display scant minutes earlier and she was still running on high. The yawning maw would have provided a moment's hesitation – fatal hesitation – any day before Pelanoi. Now it was an oversized target. She unloaded shot after shot into the open mouth of the creature, which recoiled from the spread shot and bled from dozens of lacerations that would have dropped a charging rhino. She fired off the last pellet in the chamber before snapping the breach over and reaching into a pouch labelled 'Special Occasions' on her hip.

A sadistic smile overtook her as she loaded the custom-made round and she pumped her weapon enthusiastically as the BOW recovered and lunged just as Alaina raised her weapon.

The explosive round tore the upper jaw – and most of the BOW's head – clean off. The headless BOW seemed to paused, as if considering its headless state, before shuddering horrifically and falling to the earth with a heavy thump. Alaina reloaded her weapon and spat on the carcass of the monstrosity before turning to help the rest of her team.

-X-

Tech was by far the youngest of the mercenaries, but he was determined not to be cowed by the arguably more experienced men and women of Grey Team. So when he came up, he came up shooting. Shot after shot found its home in the thick hide of the BOW that had so foolishly chosen him as its prey. As his MP9 spat death he reached with one hand for the M1832 Artillery Short sword sheathed at his waist before drawing it in an instant, dragging it across the belly of the great serpent in the same, fluid motion.

The creature hissed in pain and dived, but its aim was spoiled by its agony and it glided past the young mercenary harmlessly. Realising its mistake, the creature lashed out with its tail but Tech had predicted such an attack and crouched low, letting the tail rush over his mask. The monster disappeared into the grass but Tech was confident the monster would come back. While his expertise lay more in technology, he had spent some time reading up on predators as a young child. It had bored him; and amusingly enough he found that apex predators such as the creature he fought now were not too dissimilar in temperament to the young adults he had witnessed in higher education: if wounded by their prey; they would come back.

Tech knew that his best chance to slay the monster lay in the next attack the monster would unleash. The monster was wounded and enraged, which would dull its intellect, taking into account the motion of the grass with the wind, which was negligible at best, and the BOW should be–

'Right… there!' he breathed as the BOW burst from the grass at exactly the point Tech had calculated. He smirked beneath his mask and raised his blade like a duellist, feeling entirely calm as the monster drew ever closer. He thought for a moment that the monster realised what was about to occur, but dismissed it as the creature had not even tried to change its trajectory.

The giant snake impaled itself on Tech's short sword, the blade lancing through the soft meat of its mouth and bisecting the monster's brain. To save himself from being plowed over by the BOW's momentum, Tech took a great step back and pulled his sword from the mouth of the creature, not even bothering to check if it was dead. He wiped the blade, slick with blood, on the tall grass before craning his head to see what the rest of Grey were up to.

-X-

Natalia cartwheeled out of the way of the attacking creature like a professional gymnast and was on her feet with both knives in her hands a heartbeat later. Her tranquiliser pistol was holstered at her side; she knew full well that BOWs possessed a marked resistance to most toxins such as tranquiliser. A good blade on the other hand…

The beast turned and hissed balefully at Natalia, who gave it a cool smirk before crouching into a low stance. Scant seconds later the monster charged, stretching its jaw as wide as it could manage, intending on taking Natalia's leg and dragging her along the earth. Natalia hopped over the creature and dug one of her knives into the back of the monster. The sudden tug as the BOW rushed by almost dislocated her shoulder and she gasped at the sudden force before gritting her teeth and sinking her second blade deep. The snake arched its body and bucked violently, trying to throw the British mercenary from its back but Natalia held on tight, her specially designed bodysuit giving her all the grip she needed and then some.

The snake sunk into the grass and began to slither along rapidly, violently shaking itself from side in order to pitch Natalia from its hide. It almost made her laugh at how desperate it was to throw her off. She fished into a pouch and produced a small incendiary device. It wasn't quite the equal of anything her teammate Alaina could produce, but her inner pyromaniac made up for any shortcomings with determination to do better next time. Carving a hole into the side of the BOW, Natalia primed the device before cramming it into the bloody hole and relinquishing her grip on the creature.

The BOW stopped and whipped around, instantly suspicious at Natalia's sudden retreat. Its tongue flickered for a moment as it stared the woman down. All the while Natalia counted down in her head.

'And… three, two, one!' she breathed to herself. No sooner had the words left her mouth when a blinding flash emanated from the giant snake's gut like a miniature sun exploding into life. The creature mewled pathetically as the charge burned a hole in its insides, thumping its head against the ground in its death throes before finally it lay still, its guts smoking from the thermal charge. Natalia nodded in satisfaction before remembering Grey Team's current predicament, and scanned the field for her teammates.

-X-

Felix Jäger cursed in his native tongue as the monster encircled him, intent on crushing him like an anaconda. Holding his gun out and bracing himself as the BOW squeezed – and God it squeezed! – he reached for his combat knife and unsheathed it before plunging it clumsily into the skin of the monstrosity again and creature's grip lessened, allowing Felix to drop down to his knees and scramble out from underneath. Snatching up his PSG1 he checked the magazine before turning on the monster, his face a mask of cold fury. He squeezed and a bloody hole was blown into the freak's invisible hide.

The creature hissed and jumped at Felix, knocking him over and onto his back. He saw the faint shimmer of the BOW and panicked as the creature opened its great, yawning maw and lunged. Felix rolled and felt a strand of saliva patter against his cheek. Scrambling away, Felix reached up and soon realised that it was not the monster's saliva, but his own blood. The creature had cut him with one of its razor teeth as it had passed him.

The idea that this barbaric creature had actually wounded him offended him greatly, and a burning fury overtook him as he hefted his PSG1 and fired roughly around the bloody spot he had gouged out in the flank of the creature scant moments ago. Another gory wound sprouted seemingly out of nowhere. In a split second he had readjusted his aim and fired again. Readjust. Squeeze. Bump. Readjust. Squeeze. Bump.

He finally emptied his magazine and by the end of it, his foe's flank was a bloody ruin and the monster itself very dead. Jäger breathed a sigh of relief before sinking onto his backside.

'I do hope the next engagement will be a more distant affair,' he murmured in German.

-X-

Jake Burke was terrified.

The monster he faced was like something out of fiction only twice as large and three times as hungry and to top all of that off, he couldn't see the damned thing at all. The only clue he had was the infernal hissing and the rattle of gunfire close by put paid to his hopes of locating the creature by sound. Sight was the only sense that would serve him now and this monster had been engineered to entirely bypass that.

Jake swept his SG553 from side to side, adjusting his position every few seconds, his eyes flickering, each time he settled on a new patch of land he could swear he caught the slightest glimpse of movement, but could he be sure? It seemed that his only consolation was that while Grey Team was preoccupied with these monsters, that group of people had more time to put some distance between themselves and Grey Team. He had almost cursed when Viper had put them on the right track, and had considered arguing for a different path, but to do so would have aroused suspicion, and Jake was no good to anyone dead. Despite it all, he didn't really want to see any of his teammates die either, even knowing full well what they would do should they find out he helped their intended quarry, or what they would certainly have to do if they caught up with them.

The only exception to this was the enigmatic Viper, who had given him cold shivers at the town earlier in the morning. According to the G&G spokesperson who had hired him on as part of Grey Team, the only one with access to his dossier was the team leader – Elias. He was fairly certain that, before this Op, none of the others had known or worked with each other before, so why then did Viper know about his parents? Or his brother? More chillingly was the fact that he had mentioned them by name, which he and his brother had made sure to cover up during their time with Umbrella.

A shimmer in front of him snapped Jake out of his thoughts and in the time it takes to draw breath, combat instinct took over and Jake brought his weapon up and hammered the trigger, spitting round after round at the monster before him. A shrill, piercing shriek made Jake wince and a jet of blood spurted out from what he could only assume was a telling wound (the creature's right eye, which Jake had hit by accident). Capitalising on his good fortune, Jake charged, firing at the bleeding spot, swapping out his magazine when it ran dry.

The tail of the creature whipped out, catching Jake in the chest, winding him and knocking his SMG out of reach. Half a second later the shimmering BOW was on top of him, snapping its jaws and clamping onto his body armour. Jake screamed in panic but other than the pressure, the armour held as the monster was too weak from pain to punch through the Kevlar plates. Reaching hastily for his sidearm, Jake drew the MP-443 Grach Russian pistol and fired away at the giant snake's snout. The 9x19mm Parabellum rounds punched straight through bone, cartilage and flesh, blowing out the back of the BOW's skull.

The dead monster crashed to the ground with Jake still trapped between the monster's teeth. He gasped as he felt a fang slip through a gap in the Kevlar and lance through his midsection. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to press his hands against the mouth of the beast and push.

He really didn't want to be stuck there in case there were more of the creatures.

-X-

Elias stared glumly at the smoking carcass at his feet. The monster had eaten a full magazine from his G36, another magazine from his MP7 when it had knocked it from his hands, and still wouldn't die. In the end he had pulled the pin on his last grenade and forced it down the throat of the BOW before leaping away, letting the monster explode into gory chunks. He picked up his G36 and dusted it off before scanning his surroundings. Grey Team had been separated when the BOWs had attacked and in his scuffle he had no idea how well the others had fared.

He grunted in approval as he saw Viper, Alaina, Natalia, Tech and Jäger saunter towards him, looking no worse for wear than they had before the skirmish had begun, and he silently applauded their individual skill. Scanning them one more time told him that he was short a man. Short a medic, even.

'Where's Burke?' he asked.

He saw the men and women glance at each other, unsure of Burke themselves. Elias suppressed a growl. He should have guessed that Burke would choke sooner or later. Umbrella or no, he was far too damned soft for this kind of work. He was about to order them to check their inventory and move on when Alaina suddenly pointed out with a cry of alarm. Turning, Elias saw that Burke lay a few scant metres away, apparently wrestling with something, which meant he was very much alive.

Grey Team made their way through the torn grass over to him and, eventually, managed to extricate him from the teeth of the creature. Elias frowned at the sight of Burke's wound.

'Don't worry,' Jake said, catching Elias' gaze, 'I don't think it's poisonous. I'm just in shock. Be all fine in a minute… you'll see.' It was clear to all that Jake was mostly muttering it for his own benefit. Still, Elias ordered Natalia to help patch him up. Amusingly enough, despite his injury and the proclaimed shock, Burke still instructed her through the entire procedure, and corrected her method no less than four times, much to the recon specialists' chagrin.

Finally he was bandaged up and the bleeding stopped. Jake replaced his body armour and winced as he stood up. Elias fixed him with an expectant look.

'The virus.' He intoned, casting a suspicious glance at Felix, who paled and touched the graze on his cheek.

Understanding filled Jake and he muttered bitterly before reaching into his medi-pouch and retrieving two auto-injectors filled with a cool, blue-purple mixture. He pressed one to his neck and depressed the needle, wincing at the sting but feeling relieved that the virus would not claim him today. He handed the other injector to Felix, who grabbed at it like a starving man offered a loaf of bread before he mimicked Jake's actions, sighing as the antidote flooded his system. Elias nodded, glancing over the rest of Grey Team in case there were any more injuries, when dealing with Umbrella's concoctions one could never be too careful. Finding nothing, he turned to lead on.

'Wouldn't mind another minute or so to–' Jake started, but paused when Elias turned his gaze back upon him.

'If we're done here ladies and gentlemen,' Elias started as he turned in the direction Viper had set them on, 'let's move on.'

According to Tech, who had downloaded a layout of the island, there was a Wildlife Ranger Station up ahead. Why the targets would run there was anyone's guess, but in the end it didn't matter. All that mattered was the mission.

Everything else was secondary.

-X-

I don't know what to think of this update to be perfectly honest. Part of me is glad it's out but the rest of me thinks that it could have been much, much better. That said I'm never really happy with what I put out, so maybe that's just me being Mr Perfectionist. Oh well, I guess you guys will tell me if anything seems rushed.

As always, read and review. It motivates us a lot more than you'd imagine.