"I wish we had a rocket launcher," I said. "It would take that thing out in a BAM!"

I tried to joke around even though I was as nervous as a mouse in cat's territory. I was terrified actually. I didn't know what the thing with the ugly face was capable of doing, so we had to hurry.

"So much for finding the exit, huh? Here we are going back into the wolf's mouth." Lea said.

"Yeah! Tell me about it. I don't know how your brother and Jill managed to be last year's models; these monsters are something even Lex Luthor couldn't come up with."

"Who?" She asked looking at me like an alien.

"Lex Luthor, he's a comic book villain, sweetheart. He...never mind."

"What kind of books are you reading, Will?" She asked, eying me like I was crazy.

"The ones with pictures in them, babe." I smiled.

"Makes sense." She said jokingly. I glared back playfully. "Crazy people coming up with even crazier monsters? You have a weird imagination, Will."

"Better than no imagination at all, baby."

Lea took out the map of the hospital and checked the possible places from which the screams may have come from. There was a set of rooms on the third floor, which seemed to fit the category better, so we went for it.

On the way there we had to take out two more of those zombie things, one of them seemed to have been a doctor in the hospital, but not a regular doctor; on his I.D he had a symbol I had seen before in Jill's files. I recognized it right away; it was the Umbrella symbol.

"Lea! Check this out." I pointed out while holding the card.

"That's..."

"Yes. I think this whole hospital is somehow associated with Umbrella, and I don't mean just a magazine subscription."

"You think the virus was being tested here?" Lea asked concerned.

"I think they were doing more than that," I explained, "Think about it, the zombies, the locked rooms, but 'specially Gigantor itself...they're protecting something."

"We gotta find Leon and Jill quickly."

"No argument on that, sugar. Let's move!"

I didn't know what laid ahead of us, but one thing was for sure, it wasn't a dinner buffet.

"You really don't know who Lex Luthor is, Lea?" I asked, still thoroughly shocked at the fact that she had no idea who Superman's arch-nemesis was.

"I'll make you a deal. You tell me who Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe are, and I'll give it another shot." Lea smiled at me innocently. She's lucky she's cute.

"Aren't those the rabbit and the parrot from the cereal boxes?"

Abruptly, Lea stopped in her tracks and stared at me, saying nothing. After what felt like a minute or two, she finally spoke. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't joke around when it comes to cereal, honey." I said with a grin, and without so much as a smile, she stepped toward me and punched me in the arm.

As interesting as our conversation was, it had to come to an end. We continued forward, like nothing had happened, and we landed upon a staircase. Slowly, we made our way upstairs and the instant we reached the top, Lea recognized someone standing about ten feet ahead.

Her eyes went wide as a grin broke out on her face, "Leon!" she screamed, breaking into a run toward her older brother.

"Lea!" He grinned back, his arms outstretched, "It's alright, I'm okay." The younger Kennedy enveloped Leon in a tight hug.

When they pulled away, Leon looked at me, the smile still on his face, "Will, I believe there's someone who wants to say hi to you."

Not two steps away from Leon, the form of someone appeared. It was a woman. And she looked remarkably familiar. Jill...I felt hot tears trickle my eyes but I held them in, determined not to cry at that moment. It was so surreal.I didn't believe what my eyes were seeing. There she was, the brat, Jilly. And she was alive. And not only was she alive, she was okay. She'd cut her hair in the time we'd been apart and had grown a few feet, but I'd recognize my baby sister anywhere. I stepped forward a few feet and she slowly stepped toward me, a small smile appearing on the corner of her mouth. I couldn't help but to look at her and reach for a hug.

"Gotta admit, I didn't think you had feelings, Will," Jill said with a smile.

"I slipped, brat. Don't get too happy."

We had finally found them! My brother was safe, and so was Jill. I gotta admit, she wasn't what I had expected after all I'd heard about her. I pictured a slightly older woman with a strong build who had the intimidating look of an officer. Jill Valentine was the opposite. She couldn't be more than a year or two older than Leon, and while she was in shape, she wasn't the body builder I had originally thought she'd be. And she had soft, gentle, welcoming features which her smile highlighted.

"You guys okay?" I asked concerned.

"Define okay, sis." Leon replied, half smiling, as he cocked his gun.

"Okay as in you two made it without a scratch."

"I suppose we're okay, then," he grinned dorkily and reached out to hug me, "No worries."

From beside Leon, Jill stepped forward, extending her hand in greeting, "I'm Jill Valentine," she said warmly.

"Lea Kennedy," I smiled, taking her hand and shaking it.

"May I ask what was all that screaming about?" Will asked, "Here we were thinking you two were getting skinned or something."

"Well..." Jill started, slightly embarrassed, "We kinda ran into each other in the darkness, and we may have freak each other out a little bit."

"A little bit?" Leon questioned incredulously, "Try a whole lot. You almost gave me a heart attack, woman."

"Okay, let me get this straight," Will started, ignoring Leon's outburst, "You two have fought zombies, B.O.W's, humanoids, tyrants, heck, even super-powered humans, and you screamed because you saw each other?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes playfully, "Jill, I always told you you looked hideous when you woke up, and Leon, I think it was the hair." He joked, grinning widely.

Jill and Leon did not think he was funny, but I couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Will had this quality to himself, or maybe it was a flaw, in which he always found the funny side of things. I was finding out more and more that he could make me smile without even trying. For some reason, since we'd met, I'd felt a kind of connection to him. Now, all I needed to do was look into his eyes, and I felt...safe. I felt a sense of calm, that maybe things would be alright after all.

"We don't have time for catching up now, guys," Jill said, interrupting my thought process, "We have to go back to my apartment; I have some intel there that's going to come in handy. "

"Yeah...about that, little sis," Will half-smiled nervously, "Your apartment got a little make over, which I can only describe as...mindblowing."

"Except it blows more than your mind," I added just above a whisper.

"Damn it!" Jill cursed, frustrated, "Not good, this is not good. I had information there regarding Claire's location, which could've lead us to Chris." She sighed heavily. "That information was vital, the only other copy of it is back at home..."

"And this, ladies and gentlemen...or Leon," Will announced cheerfully as Leon glared, "Is the part of today's festivities where I save the day!" He pulled out a small cell phone looking device. "All we need is right here, Jilly."

"How...how did you get that?" Jill asked upset, her eyes narrowing at her older brother.

"Let's just say, you need a new doorknob, JV." Will smiled and if looks could kill, I don't think Will would've been making the rest of this trip with us.

"I am going to kill you, Will." Jill gritted her teeth, "You broke past my security system?"

"Security s..." Will trailed off, trying to hold back his laughter, "Oh Jilly, you crack me up."

"I'm having you arrested on the way back," Jill's tone was hard and I didn't doubt that she meant it, "I'm serious. This life of yours is not good."

"Yeah, well, good luck finding fingerprints, peach."

There it was, that cocky, self-confident facade Will threw on. Only a minute ago, I was fine putting my life in his hands, but now, I didn't even want to be standing next to him. I just couldn't understand what was so wrong about being the kinder, gentler Will. Did he see it as weakness? Was he afraid of getting too close to people? I guess I'll never understand Will Valentine.

BOOM!

A large thud came from the top of the building, as heavy as Atlas' world colliding with stone. We all glanced up, then at each other, horrified. The thing was on our tail and if we didn't move, we'd be done for.

"Excuse me, Valentine family. Sorry to interrupt your first annual family reunion but we have to get out of here before this thing gets us." Leon said hurridly.

"Thing? What thing?" Jill asked as Leon, Will, and myself began pushing her toward the exit.

"Let's just say he's our Nemesis." Leon clarified and Jill's features hardened.

"It's some sort of man-made machine, or humanoid...or both." I tried my best to explain. What it really looked like, words couldn't even begin to describe.

"Oh no..." Jill breathed.

"'Oh no', Jill?" Will broke in, his voice oozing with sarcasm, "Why oh no? Is it a good oh no, as in 'Oh no, I missed my bus', or as in 'Oh no, run for your lives!'?" He asked.

Jill didn't even seem to register Will's voice. "They've activated the 'OBelisk' program."

"'OBelisk'? What the hell is that, Jill?" Leon asked, his eyebrows furrowing in plain confusion.

Jill shook her head, "I'll tell you all about it on our way out of here. Let's move!"

Whatever the OBelisk program was, the one thing I was sure of was that it wasn't anything good. I could feel the cold fingers of evil spreading across my body, across my neck, like the breath of someone, something far too close. Chills went up my spine and my body shook slightly as goosebumps appeared on my arms. Something big was about to happen and I just hoped we were ready for it...

What else was new? The ugly thing had a name; of course it did. Jill, Lea, Leon and I made our way out of the hospital and the second we were out, we all came to a halt. The scenery was apocalyptic, like something out of an old B movie. Car doors were left open, blood covered the pavement in every direction, and body after body lined the sidewalk, staring motionless at the sky. I honestly don't know how long we were in there, but apparently all hell had broken loose in that short while. Whatever walking dead were left alive in the building must've gone out into the streets, and went into the little town. If they reached the city, it was game over for us. We rushed out and made our way to our car, which was, thankfully, still there untouched.

"Give me the keys, Will," Jill ordered, running toward the driver's side.

"Excuse me?" I said incredulously, "Nu uh. My car, my butt on the wheel."

"Oh really?" Jill challenged, setting her hands on her hips, "That's why it has a French licence plate, and has a reciept from the airport from arriving within the city?" She raised an eyebrow, "Unless you had your clone get it in the airport and get you a car, there's no earthly way this could be yours. Also, to further prove how wrong you are, it has cigarette ashes. You don't even smoke, Will."

"You are not making any sense at all, brat." I replied, shaking my head.

"Will, you stole it, end of story."

"I hate you." I said with a smile.

"Hey, stop it, you two. Don't make mommy and daddy put you in time out." Leon interjected, causing both my sister and I to glare in his direction.

"Sorry, mommy." I replied, looking at Leon, who in turn looked like he was trying very hard to keep his composure.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second. This is a stolen car?" Lea asked, a look of anger and confusion etched on her pretty face.

"Borrowed, sweetheart, borrowed." I clarified, sending her a wink.

"I'd really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but could this conversation maybe continue in the car? I mean, we're only being chased by a freak-ish monster in a city overrun by the undead." Leon spat sarcastically. And if he wasn't right, I would've said something equally sarcastic back, but sadly, this was not the time.

I sighed and tossed the keys over the roof to Jill, "Be my guest, sis. Drive us wherever."

And so we drove away into the deserted streets of what had once been a nice town in the outskirts of France.

"There is a facility all the way at the end of town... " My sister began.

"Why is everything in a facility?" I couldn't help but interrupt. Facility, facility, facility. That's all I read about in Jill's files. It was too cliche, if you asked me.

"...Like i was saying..." Jill picked right up where she left off, disregarding me completely. Rude. "This facility has vital information about the virus, and all the new stuff they are coming up with. We are talking about thousands of mutations of the one T, almost the whole alphabet here, guys. They're mixing it with every possible DNA strand they can get their hands on..."

"You're right, Jill. Of course we have to stop it. We're going to stop it. I just hope that that toy of yours, Will, doesn't let us down. Right now, it's our only evidence. You better take care of it with your life." Leon, the almighty, spoke up.

I scoffed. Wasn't he ever going to learn to stop ordering people around? I seriously doubted it. "Listen, Handsome," I started smoothly, "I was taking care of more valuable items when you were still in diapers, so don't give me orders."

"Guys..." Lea pleaded, "Cut it out, already. It's getting old."

Leon and I shared a look. It's not like we did it on purpose...

"Let's just listen to Jill, please."

"Thank you, Lea," The brat replied. So much for her being on my side. "There are rumors that Umbrella is planning on extending itself as far as the globe goes. We're talking every country, every continent, every ocean here. The OBelisk is a mix of all those mutations I mentioned before, plus some sort of new parasite prototype which was last heard of somewhere in Spain." She glanced over at us quickly before turning back toward the road, "It's very unique, very deadly. They say it's buried in the sands of time." She took a breath, then continued, "There are rumors going around that there is a more powerful hand over this, that's why we need to find out what exactly they're doing there. We may already be too late, though..."

RAWR!

"What the hell was that, now?" Leon asked heavily annoying.

"I'm afraid your prom date caught up with you finally, man." I joked. No one giggled or even broke into a smile. Not even Lea...A little sense of humor wouldn't hurt, looked back in terror, and found a very unpleasant surprise: it was the OBelisk. Of course it was the OBelisk. Could nothing ever be simple? Somehow, it had caught up to us. Even with all of its girth, it was able to keep up with the car. It was literally running after us. We had to find a way to stop him, or it was going to be the end of us all.