I glanced from inside the cab and saw the Impala still lingering behind us. It had been a few blocks since I last saw it, so I felt it was time to say something to Leon.

"Leon, I think that guy from the plane is following us."

Leon glanced back quickly, then turned back to me smirking, "Maybe he likes you."

This time I didn't resist the urge to punch him. He glared at me just as we pulled up to the apartment complex and I smiled back innocently. Leon rolled his eyes, pulled a 20 Euros bill out and paid the man. We hopped out, taking in the ritzy façade, and we both shared an incredulous look. The things money could buy…

We grabbed our bags out of the trunk and almost instantly, the cab sped off down the street. Together, we strolled to the front of the house, ready to knock on the door, but the second we approached it, Leon held his hand out toward me, gesturing for me to stop.

"What is it, Leon?" I asked, a wave of fear washing over me.

"I heard something ticking. Something like…" I saw his eyes widen in realization, "...a bomb! Get down!" He screamed, grabbing me, and shielding my body with his own.

At that moment, a large boom resonated from upstairs and the entire second floor collapsed. A huge shock wave collided with Leon and he slammed into me, sending us both to the hard cement ground. There was a faint ringing in my ears as pieces of drywall rained down on us and I could faintly make out Leon asking me if I was okay. Just before I could answer him, I heard a scream from behind us. Someone calling a name. Jill's name.

Leon glanced over at the guy, the same exact guy from the airport. I knew he was following us! Reaching down, Leon grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. I had a scrape on my elbow and my knee was bleeding but other than that, I was okay. I glanced at Leon and saw he had a small piece of the brick wall lodged in his arm, but didn't really seem to notice. He was focused on the guy who'd called Jill's name.

"Wait here," he said, more like ordered, as he hurried over to where the dark-haired guy stood.

I ran toward the building but I came to a forced stop.

"Freeze!" It was the skinny man. He had pulled out a handgun and was pointing it at me. He had a very steady pose as if he knew what he was doing. I still wonder how he got the gun on the plane...

"You better get out of my way buddy. And put that away before someone gets hurt." I tried to make him see I had no bad intentions.

"The only one getting hurt here, "buddy" is going to be you. Put your hands up and get on the ground, now!" He commanded. This guy had the nasty attitude of a cop, or worse, a retired cop. But no, he was too young.

"Listen, boyscout. I know you think you are doing something good here, being the hero, but trust me, you are not. There are more important things happening at the moment, like the fact that my sister may have been in that building," I explained. "I overheard your conversation, talking about a Jill. Tell me, is this Jill Valentine?" I asked almost with tears.

He hesitated for a second, "Yes. Jill Valentine, former S.T.A.R.S member. You mean to tell me she is your sister?"

"That's right, Fido. Now, put the gun down, or else…" Before he could ask a question, I quickly grabbed his gun, and twisted it toward his forehead. This guy was definitely no rookie, though and quickly he dragged a knife from his jacket, hitting my hand with the dull part which made me immediately drop the gun.

Unfortunately for him, I was far from defeated. I had tools of my own; a small pocket knife I carried around with me in case I had a MacGyver moment. In the blink of an eye, I had it pointed straight to his jugular. It was very clear at this moment that we both knew how to kill a man instantly.

"Very nice, cowboy. Ever thought about cutting your hair?" I said as I cut a strand that was falling forward over his forehead. He didn't look happy. Immediately, he ran the knife under my lower lip just cutting it deep enough to make me bleed.

"Ever thought about shutting up?" He replied with a grin.

"Touché!" I said as I pulled away my knife. He was a good man, I could see it in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asked, as if unsatisfied by the result of the confrontation.

"I could be a lot of things, wig boy, but I ain't a killer." I replied honestly. Plus, I honestly didn't think we would've hurt each other anymore or even touched each other. He seemed very well trained, hell, I'm sure he was.

"Name's Kennedy, Leon Scott Kennedy, former RPD."

"RPD?" Was this what I think it was? "You mean Raccoon Police Department? Ha! I knew you had a background there, soldier."

"You ever served in the armed forces?" Leon asked, putting his knife away.

"Well, I've been armed before in jobs and definitely have used force, but nah, never the army." I replied while picking up his gun and handing it back to him.

I had the feeling this was the beginning of a very weird friendship. "That's a very beautiful girlfriend you got there, Kennedy." I voiced, glancing past his shoulder.

"That's my sister, you moron." He replied very offended.

"Sister, huh?" I reaffirmed while winking my right eye. Then I went and introduced myself.

I had watched the whole scene transpire before me. Leon ran up to that guy, they exchanged words, and my dumb brother pulled out his gun, which in turn, caused a whole new chain of events to happen. When that guy turned Leon's gun back on him, I was about ready to run down there and interfere but Leon evened things out and the two talked for a minute or so. Seeing that things were okay now, I jogged toward them.

"Leon, is everything alright?" I asked, when I'd made my way next to them.

"Everything's fine. This is Jill's brother…Uh, what's your name?"

"Will. Will Valentine," he glanced at me, smirking slightly, "And you must be the sister."

"The sister?" I looked at him, slightly insulted.

"He thought you were my girlfriend at first." Leon laughed.

"Eww. Moron."

"That's what I said," my brother re-holstered his gun and took out his phone, "I'm going to try and get in touch with Jill. She's a smart girl; I doubt she was in that building," He started to walk away but stopped suddenly, looking back at Will, "Remember, I have a gun." He said, no humor evident in his voice. I don't want to call it a threat, let's say it was a reminder, for Will to keep his distance. Leon turned to look at me, his features softer, "I'll be right over here in case of anything, okay?"

I nodded and gave my brother a smile as he walked away. I turned to look at Will and was surprised to see him looking at me.

Keeping my cool, I started with, "So, Alexander, huh?"

He adverted his eyes, seemingly embarrassed, "Oh, that. Let's just call it an alias, and leave it at that."

"The only people who need aliases are spies and celebrities and you don't strike me as either."

Will shrugged, "Maybe I just like my privacy." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "Doesn't everyone?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, "By the way, name's Lea."

"Will," He said again.

"You sure it's not Alexander?" I smiled, teasing him slightly.

He laughed, "Yeah, I'm sure."

What an amazing day I've had so far, huh? Just a quick recap; I was in a horrible flight over here, I was sitting next to a rude Spaniard dwarf, but on top of it all, I might have lost my sister. Come on, Jilly, I know you're smarter than to have been in there.

"Hey, Leon!" I called, while stepping away from the Lea the Goddess.

"What's your itch?" he replied, rudely gesturing that he was busy on the phone, "I'm trying to see what happened to your sister. You are going to have to give me a minute here."

Longest minute of my life.

"Okay, I just got off the phone. No success at all. Jill is not picking up, however, there's something in her voicemail you may wanna listen to," as he said this, my skin got goosebumps all over. I hadn't felt fear in a while but just the idea that Jilly might be dead could not be processed in my head. That little brat had to be alive! "I just want to let you know that it's not very promising, it's -"

"Let me listen to it, Leon!" I raised my voice and he handled the phone over.

"By the time someone listens to it, I'm going to be honest, I don't know if I'll be dead or alive. Umbrella is onto us, all of us, even you Leon. Even our closest relatives, the ones we love. Chris and I got some intel on where Claire might be. There is a hospital on the edge of the city that apparently Umbrella bought off and now they are using it as an experimenting facility. Claire found out about this and went by herself to check it out. Dumb move. She must've been taken in again. They are all around us, Leon. Everywhere. It'll be Raccoon City all over again unless we stop it. They are always watching, they are…. Until we meet again. Love you, Will, I know you are there."

My skin crawled with fear; my sister knew I was here! She sounded as if she knew she was going to die, like she known all along. I had to make them pay.

"I'm so sorry." Leon grieved.

"I need you to listen to me very well, cowboy," I followed up, "I don't know what exactly is going on here, or what exactly happened in that Raccoon City of yours, but I would like details on it. I have no idea what my sister is into, or who this 'Chris' character is, but of one thing I'm sure is my sister is not dead. Do you hear me? She is NOT dead. Process that, okay?"

"You really are a Valentine, huh? Never know when to quit." He said, "Stubborn pieces of work." He followed with a smile.

"You got that right!" I replied, eager to find Jilly. "I think your car left, bro. Need a ride?"

"Sure thing, but I'm riding shotgun. Oh, and if you look at my sister, you are a dead man, comprende?"

"No promises in law, no promises."

As we got into the car and started on our way to the hospital, he told me all about Raccoon City and its peachy glory.

From where I was standing a few feet away, I couldn't quite overhear the boys' conversation. Leaving them to talk for a few moments, my mind wandered, trying to process what had just happened. So, this is where we were supposed to meet Jill yet someone, besides the four of us, must've known. There was no way to tell if Jill had been in the building when it'd collapsed and judging from the solemn looks on my brother and Will's faces, they hadn't been able to get in contact with her either. So, if there was no Jill, then there was no Chris, and if there was no Chris, there was no way to get into contact with Claire, which meant we were back to square one. No, I can't think like that. Jill is alive. I know it. If what Leon has said about her is true, she'd have been one step ahead and out of that building before anything had happened. It was just a matter of finding out where she was…

I looked over at Leon and Will and saw the latter gesturing to his car. Must be offering us a ride, but to where? I walked over and Leon turned toward me.

"Any luck?" I asked, referring to the phone call.

Leon shook his head, "Not really. There was no answer but Jill's voicemail told us that Claire might be around, in a hospital nearby."

"And Jill?" I questioned softly, so Will couldn't hear me.

Leon just shook his head.

"You guys coming, or what?" I heard Will call to us from behind the driver's seat.

We hurried into the car, Leon taking shotgun, and me situating myself in the backseat.

"So, instead of the radio, I'd much rather listen to a story," Will began, glancing over at Leon quickly, before turning back to the road, "Oh, say the story of what exactly happened in Raccoon City."

Leon looked at me through the rear-view mirror, an indescribable look on his face.

"You sure? It's not a bedtime story, junior. There is no happy ending, at least not yet."

Will nodded, his mouth set in a firm line, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

I sat back, closing my eyes, and prepared myself for the same, and unbeknownst to Will, abridged story of the demise of Raccoon City.

"According to Jill, back in July, there were bunches of random, violent murders reported taking place just outside Raccoon's city limits. At this time, your sister was part of Raccoon's elite police squad, the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or S.T.A.R.S for short. The S.T.A.R.S were the ones called in when things got hairy. I was hoping to join them at some point in the future, but with no city, that's kind of hard to do now, isn't it?" Leon smiled slightly, then went back to the story, "Anyway, there was a crash of some kind that forced Jill's team to go investigate and they all ended up in this old mansion in the Arklay Mountains, Chris Redfield included."

"Redfield!" Will shouted, "That's it. I knew it began with an R."

Leon and I looked at Will, confused.

"Never mind."

Leon continued the story, "So, this mansion was infested with zombies because the Umbrella Corporation, I'm sure you've heard of it, right, Will?"

I don't know about Will, but I sure heard of it.

"Umbrella was conducting secret, deadly experiments in a lab underneath and there was spill and well…you can guess how that went," Leon swallowed and licked his lips, "A few weeks passed, and I was on my way to the city to start my career as an RPD officer. When I arrived, the whole city had already gone to hell. That's when I met Claire Redfield, Chris' younger sister. We split up and made our way to the police station, hoping to find a way out. Even though it was boarded up, the zombies had gotten inside and we realized there wasn't a safe haven left in the city. The horror I saw, the horror I know Jill saw, is something not even nightmares are made of. We're going to take this corporation down. Make them pay. The world will never have to suffer like Jill and I did. They won't go through what we went through. And neither will you guys."

And just to prove how wrong my brother was, we pulled up to the hospital at that moment to find the place completely revenged, blood stains on the hallways visible from here.

Like I said, I never believed in monsters, unless you count politicians as blood sucking ghouls. I never believed in the occult, or in conspiracies, or in big companies trying to take over the world. All I cared about was me and my jobs. I never believed in any of this, until I heard Leon's vivid testimony of what this so-called Umbrella had done to a once peaceful city. These people killed hundreds, if not thousands of people, and they didn't care, they were nothing but cold blooded murderers. I was going to help put an end to it, no matter what.

I lost track of time of how long it took us to get there, I was mostly concentrated in Leon's story. When we got there, though, what we saw wasn't a hospital. The place looked ravished, blood stains were visible to the naked eye.

This is not good, I thought.

"What the hell happened here?" Leon asked to himself as he exit the car.

"Leon, I don't think is a good idea to go in there." Lea said very scared but it was too late, Leon was already on his way.

"Is he always this way?" I asked.

"Brave, you mean?"

"No, stupid!" I replied with a crooked smile.

"That's rude!" She said smiling back.

"Come on, beautiful. Let's go save his butt." I left the car and ran immediately to open the door for her, extending my hand.

"Well aren't you a gentleman?" She said.

"Only on the weekends sweetheart. Let's go!"

There was no time for that now; I wish I would've met her under different circumstances.

"Leon wait!" I screamed at him.

Great, we had lost him! This is what happens when you wanna be the hero of the story. It pleases me that I'm not that. I'm everything but the hero.

"Where is my brother?" Lea asked, upset showing on her face.

"Honestly?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Honestly!"

"I'm not an honest man darling," I smiled, trying to cheer up the mood but she looked beyond worried. "Don't worry, we'll find him."

We kept walking for about another hundred steps. The lights in the hospital were out but, luckily for us, I always like to carry a flashlight with me. As I looked around on a wall, there was a map posted on it and I took it immediately. Then we…

Crash!

"What was that?" Lea asked while holding me by the arm.

"I don't know but it came from down that hall," I pointed down the corridor, "Stay behind me."

As we walked, we heard an overpowering groaning coming from the same hall. It got louder and louder with every step we took. Eventually, we made it to the room in which the noise seemed to be coming from.

"A1 operating room" said the door.

And so we stepped in. There was a man, wearing scrubs, standing directionless, motionless, and as I was soon to discover; lifeless. He turned slowly toward us. He was sluggish, or at least he was until he saw us. The man fully turned around revealing a gruesome half chewed face. He also had no arm under the left sleeve of the scrub, only blood all over him. He launched toward us, screaming in agony.

"Stay back!" I commanded, but it was too late, his launch was already halfway through.