The ticking clock was irritatingly loud. Tick, tock, tick, tock. It's slow, steady repetitiveness made you just want to bash it in to make it stop.

Wesker directed them all to a long, wooden dinner table, which looked as though it could comfortably seat a hundred people. Jill and Rebecca, in a show of feminine togetherness, sat down next to each other and promptly began to eye Wesker warily.

Chris and Barry glanced at each other, glanced away, cleared their throats, and each took a seat very far away from the other.

Wesker also cleared his throat. "Now, just relax, chat a bit. Dinner will be--"

"BOOM!! HEADSHOT!!"

The piercing shriek made everyone startle in unison. The table jarred from the force of four pairs of knees hitting it at once, sending an expensive-looking vase flying to the floor.

Wesker looked at it in horror.

Jill and Rebecca immediately jumped up and began to gather up the pieces.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Captain Wesker," Rebecca apologized, pausing when she found a weird blue gem in the middle of the rubble. Shrugging, she tossed it over her shoulder.

It his Chris in between the eyes, sending him sprawling backwards.

"It's okay," Wesker said, his voice amazingly forced. "Just a vase." He sniffled.

Jill looked at the clay shards in her hands and grimaced. It looked very expensive … something her Father would've called a good grab … Maybe even something she might've tried to make off with when she left, like that antique perfume bottle she'd nabbed from Kathy Burton.

"We can … replace it?" said Rebecca slowly.

"Irreplaceable," said Wesker, grinding his teeth. "But, ah, never mind. It's just a vase. That Uncle James gave to me. In the lab. On his deathbed."

Rebecca gasped and covered her heart. The clay pieces in her hands ground into her shirt, and dust began to fall to the floor.

Wesker stared at the remains of the vase. "I'd always loved that vase. When I was just a trainee, I'd go in his office and admire that vase. And Jimmy would admire it, too, and say, 'Al, when I die I'll give it to you'. I loved Uncle James very, very much, and it was so painful when Spencer ordered me to k--"

"Hey, wait, who said that?" With Barry's help, Chris had gotten back up off of the floor, and was now staring at them, completely unaware of Wesker's sudden flashback.

They all quieted, and noticed a quiet ping-ping-rap-rap sound coming from under the table.

Heart pounding nervously in his chest, Barry slowly approached the area it was coming from and, in one quick movement, flipped the tablecloth up.

"BOOM!! HEADSHOT!!"

Barry jumped back in terror, ramming into the clock and breaking the glass plate.

As something emerged from beneath, Chris screamed, Rebecca fainted, and Jill simply took two large steps backwards with a mildly frightened expression on her face, as she usually did when facing something monstrous, like a Tyrant, giant snake, or … in this case … a little girl.

The girl stared at them with bleary eyes, and soon another small head joined hers.

Chris screamed again. Visions of Samara Morgan and Alessa Gillespie danced through his head, and he began to shake. There were some scary things in the world, but little girls … they were the most terrifying of them all. The appearance of one always signified something horrible, like a raven or a black cat.

"What is it?" demanded the girl angrily. She clutched a video game controller tightly in her little hands, and the plastic soon began to bend unnaturally.

"You were shouting … horrible things …" croaked Jill, her eyes wide.

The girl bared her teeth. "Excuse me?" she shrieked. "Excuse me? We--" She gestured at the other girl. "--were in the middle of the CABIN FIGHT, and YOU made us loose! God damn it! Now I have to fight the damned thing all over again!"

Chris screamed.

The girl threw her controller across the room at him. It hit him in between the eyes, shattering as no plastic should be able to shatter and knocking Chris out.

Jill ducked behind the nearest chair for safety.

"I'm going to go find Daddy!" the girl continued, the shriek upgraded to a screech. "Come on, Angela!"

Angela nodded. "Okay, Sherry."

They emerged out from under the table and made for the door, but Wesker cleared his throat.

Sherry paused, annoyed. "Yes?"

"Who is that?" he asked, pointing at Angela.

Sherry glanced between them. "Her name's Angela."

"Yes," Wesker gritted out, "I am aware of her name. But what is she doing here, and why?"

The two girls glanced at each other and shrugged. Angela spoke.

"I just woke up here."

Sherry nodded. "Yeah. We ran into each other in the piano room. She was looking for her daddy, and she said he worked at an Umbrella lab, like my daddy--"

Rebecca regained consciousness in time to hear the word 'Umbrella' again and wonder why everyone seemed to be talking about it, only to realize there was another little girl in the room and pass back out.

"--and that his name was 'Charles'. So, I said that I'd see if my daddy knew her daddy, but then I found my copy of RE4 and we decided that--"

Wesker covered his ears and clenched his teeth against the high pitched little girl voice. "Okay!" he finally cut in, laughing nervously. "Okay, there, Sherry! Angela. Why don't you go and find William, and tell him all about it, eh? I'm sure he'd love to hear it."

"Okay," she said perkily, tugging Angela towards the door, which seemed to, oddly enough, be vibrating. She stood on her tiptoes and turned the handle.

It burst open, and a tall figure stumbled in. His clothes were ripped, his hair missing in clumps, and his skin shriveled grotesquely.

Rebecca, who had once again come back around promptly fainted at the sight. Chris was also awoken, but only by the horrible, sickening stench of decaying flesh.

The thing lunged towards Sherry.

Jill squeaked, and moved to go and save her from the perceived threat. "Oh, God! Sherry!"

Sherry's face didn't even show surprise. She pulled out a dagger, wrestled the monster down into a headlock, and promptly jammed the blade into its skull.

Jill took several steps backward in horror at the terrible violence.

Sherry jump kicked the monster back into the hall. It went stumbling and hit the floor with a thud.

"Ha!" she said haughtily. "Head-stab! I'm so good, I should start playing GTA! Come on, Angela! Let's go find Daddy!"

They slammed the door closed behind them.

Wesker gave a long suffering sigh, took in the sight of his guests (three of whom were shocked beyond words or movement, and one fainted), and sat down at the table.

"Dinner'll be ready soon," he said, idly running a hand over his gelled hair. "Don't sweat it."

Author's Note: So, I hurt my foot today and can't walk without pain, but on the good side, I finally got my lazy ass together and wrote this. :) And, uh, my knowledge of the movies is a little foggy, so if there's any mistakes pertaining to Angela Ashford that's why.

And the vase thing ... I'm not sure if anyone's ever seen it, but how Wesker goes on about the vase being given to him by a 'relative' on their deathbed was inspired by a scene in a 'Golden Girls' episode.

Thanks for the lovely reviews!

Anna