Sorry that this is a bit of a late update, I was working on other stuff. But this chapter is a little longer than the others. Many thanks to anon reviewers, 'jess', 'Marie01', 'Nienor', 'HelenaKennedy', 'BluEyedLightning', and 'endlessfantasy'. And of course thank you to other reviewers to whom I've already replied. I've taken all your comments on board. Plus, thanks for the favs and follows from members. I really appreciate it. :)

I don't own Resident Evil, or any of the characters.

Red

"Chris, it looks like there's nothing here either." Jill announced eventually.

The BSAA Captain sighed heavily in frustration. Why did their leads seem to result in dead ends? Chris knew the Family would be difficult to incriminate, but he was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to bring them to justice for their crimes. The large, complex catacombs they had uncovered definitely belonged to the Family, but there was nothing to link them to bio-terrorism.

"Alright," he muttered in defeat, "Let's get out of here."

He said the words, but didn't move, glancing around once more. Surely there had to be something here; anything to lead him to the next step. Chris' eyes fell on the sarcophagus of one of Simmons' ancestors, a previous leader of the Family. The middle of the lid was raised slightly.

Jill appeared by his side as he used one gloved hand to wipe the dust from the middle of the lid. Underneath was a serpent crest made of stone. The BSAA partners glanced at each other before Chris pushed it down. It slid into place with a dull click. There was a grinding sound under their feet, followed by a muffled thud.

After a few seconds of silence, Jill sent a puzzled look at Chris, and he shrugged. Then there was the sudden sound of rushing water to their right, and the ground opened up beneath them.

Jill yelped in surprise, and got a mouthful of water as the current carried them away.

"Jill!" Chris cried, trying to reach for her. But then he was falling through air and into a huge expanse of water a fifty feet below him, with Jill following soon after.

As soon as she impacted with the water, feet first, she began to swim up. Though it was difficult with her BSAA uniform and equipment weighing her down. When her head broke the surface, she immediately looked around for Chris. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Chris!" she called over the roar of the falling water. She was about to go under and search for him when he popped up, just a few meters away from her. He coughed twice, before turning to her.

"At least we found something." he said dryly.

She sighed in relief; he was obviously fine. They looked around for an exit. There were many tunnels above them from which water cascaded down into the pool, but they were far too high up to reach.

"Chris, look there." Jill said, pointing to another small, Family serpent crest on the wall. They swam towards it.

Chris took a breath and went under the water, and sure enough, there was the exit.

"There's an underwater tunnel here." he informed his partner when he bobbed back up.

She nodded in confirmation, "Okay, let's go."

They both took a deep breath before submerging themselves once more. Jill went into the tunnel first, and swam strongly until she reached a point where the tunnel split into two paths. She paused, glancing back at Chris.

He had his eyes on the floor of the tunnel, as there was an intricate pattern on the bottom that went into the right one. The BSAA Captain reached out to squeeze Jill's ankle, signalling for her to follow him. They swam on for another thirty seconds, before Chris saw an opening above him. His head broke the surface of the water and he gasped for air, his lungs gratefully taking it in. He noticed there were high walls around him in the enclosed space, and a ladder to his left, but he waited until Jill turned up next to him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yes." she replied, catching her breath.

Chris made his way over to the ladder and started climbing, and Jill followed. He peeked over the wall once he was high enough, and his eyes widened.

"Damn." he breathed in shock. He made sure no one was around before hoisting himself over the wall, reaching back to help Jill up.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, before he pulled her over the wall so she could see for herself. She gasped, realizing that they must have just climbed out of a well.

"Oh my god." she murmured.

It was obviously very old, but there was a whole city in front of their eyes.

As soon as Claire had taken her gloves and socks off, it was immediately apparent she had frostnip.

"Because that's exactly what I need." she muttered to herself sarcastically, examining her too pale, blotchy fingers and toes. Now that she was starting to warm up again, they were starting to tingle and burn. And they were so itchy.

Claire changed into some pyjamas, then put on some clean socks along with her gloves so she wouldn't be tempted to itch her damaged skin. She needed to check on Leon to make sure his concussion wasn't developing into anything serious.

The DSO Agent was trying to sleep in the room opposite Claire's, but his brain would not cooperate. He couldn't get his mind off Ada. She had protected Claire and him from those wolves and got them a place to stay. She was here, somewhere, in this town. But why? What business did she have here? Was she trying to help him find Sherry? He found that very hard to believe. Ada was unlikely to do anything unless it benefitted herself in some way. She'd had no qualms with using him to get what she wanted on a number of occasions in the past. Leon pressed the heels of his hands to his temple. He was so confused. His head hurt.

There was a knock at his door, and Claire's voice filtering through it, "Leon?"

"Yeah." he acknowledged, and she entered.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"I'm fine."

She made her way over to the bed and sat on the edge, before raising her gloved hands, "I have frostnip."

Leon smirked, "I have a concussion. I win."

He sat up slowly as she hummed in amusement. It was then Claire realized he was shirtless. She was suddenly very aware of her own body, as her limbs unexpectedly felt clumsy. She placed her hands in her lap awkwardly. The woman checked her gaze, struggling to keep her eyes on his face.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked, keeping her voice even.

If Leon noticed her discomfort, he didn't say anything about it, "Nah, it's too hot in here."

"Maybe you have a fever." Claire suggested, reaching out a slightly shaking hand to touch his forehead. She could feel the heat rolling off him even through her gloves, "I think you're coming down with something."

"Well we can't afford to waste anymore time resting," he replied, "We have to head out in the morning."

"I know," she replied, letting her hand drop, "but if you feel bad in the morning, we're not going anywhere. You'll be practically useless, and I am not carrying you again."

He chuckled, "Alright. We'll see how we feel in the morning."

Claire stood up, "Okay then. We should get some sleep. I'm going to check on you every hour, okay?"

He nodded, laying back down, "Yes ma'am."

Jake had decided that horses were quite proud creatures, really. His Lidiya, for example, was a bit of a diva. Though Sherry's horse Viktor was clearly trying to impress her with his elegant, yet strong demeanour, she was having none of it.

"Go on girl," he told her, swinging open the stable door even further, "go get some exercise."

She snorted at him. She wouldn't go while Viktor was cantering around outside.

The mercenary sighed, "You should be grateful Sherry's letting us stay, the least you can do is socialize with her horse."

Lidiya brayed crossly, but shifted in defeat. He raised an eyebrow sternly, "Go on."

The Yakutian horse trotted out sullenly, and Jake swore she gave him the evil eye as she passed.

He closed the stable door and leaned against the high fence that enclosed the horses exercise space, quickly becoming lost in thought. Sherry. She was safe, thank the gods. But she didn't want him here. Jake frowned. No, she was happy to see him, but she thought that she was putting him in danger. That was the only reason she wanted him to leave. Well, it didn't matter what she thought, he was staying with her. Now that he'd found her, he wasn't letting her go. Not until he was completely certain she wouldn't be hunted by the Family anymore. A dark, selfish part of him secretly hoped that they'd keep looking for her for a very long time. Let them look; he'd make sure they would never have her.

Jake was completely focused on his thoughts, until a large snowball impacted with the back of his head. He heard Sherry's mischievous giggle as he turned around to confront her. He grinned at what he saw. She had built herself something similar to a small fort made of snow, and was currently hidden behind one of the high walls.

"So it is to be war between us then?" The mercenary murmured, smirking in enthusiasm. That was fine with him. He scooped up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball as he ran for cover behind a large evergreen tree. Snowballs continued to hail down on his position, pinning him there.

"That all you got Sherry?" he taunted, sneaking a quick look around the tree trunk to judge her position. Another snowball came flying towards him, missing his face by inches, "Ha, you missed!"

The attack stopped, and he guessed she was gathering more ammo. This was his chance. He ran towards the makeshift fort and barged down a wall of snow, spotting his target to his right. Jake threw the snowball in his hand with precision, and it struck her in the chest. Sherry gasped in surprise and tried to run, but he ran after her and tackled her to the ground, rolling a few times in the snow.

She was laughing. Truly laughing. He sat up and turned to her as she remained laying in the snow. He didn't think he'd ever heard her properly laugh, not in all the time he'd known her. There had never been an occasion for it. He smiled at the sound before her laugh quietened.

"It's been far too long since I had a snowball fight." Sherry told him, spreading out her arms and moving her legs to make a snow angel, "I wasn't allowed to play with any other children after I escaped from Raccoon."

He'd never heard her talk about her ordeal in Raccoon City either. Only that her father exposed her to the G-Virus somehow, and Claire and Leon saved her. Jake found himself wishing she would open up to him more.

"I couldn't play in the snow with the other kid's either." he confided, resting his elbows on his knees, "I had to look after my mom. Though there was this one time she dragged me outside after a snowstorm and we made an igloo and a snowman, even though I told her she'd catch her death..."

She turned her head towards him, "What did she die from?"

"Her influenza developed into pneumonia, and I couldn't get any antibiotics."

What a pointless death. Sherry touched his gloved hand with her own, wishing she knew what to say to make it better. The corner of his mouth twitched up, and he reached out and brushed his knuckles against her cheek reassuringly. The gesture was extraordinary because it was so unlike him to be tender, and she appreciated it.

The horses abruptly began to panic, making a racket and galloping around aimlessly. Jake and Sherry stood, looking around for what had spooked them. It didn't take long for them to find it. The mercenary recognized the wolf he'd killed just yesterday; it still had the bullet wound lodged between its eyes. The creature was growling fiercely, slowly coming towards them from the shelter of the trees. It was only partially covered in fur; there were also patches of raw, exposed flesh.

Jake drew his handgun, and beside him Sherry did the same, "It must be the T-Virus." she informed him.

"Yeah, I can see that," he responded sarcastically, "It should be dead."

The wolf suddenly sprang towards them, and they were forced to jump apart. Jake rolled once before raising his gun and firing twice, piercing the wolf in the side. It barely reacted. Instead it lunged again towards Sherry, who chose to shoot at it rather than dodge. Her shots landed, but had little effect and the animal managed to pin her down.

"Jake, help!" she cried. He was already running towards her, drawing his left hand back before letting loose a cobra strike that made the wolf yelp in pain as it was knocked back. The mercenary raised his gun and fired two more shots, this time to its head. The final shot was delivered by Sherry from the ground; it pierced the creatures jaw and exited from the back of its skull. As it fell –finally dead– Jake realized Sherry was bleeding.

He knelt next to her, "It bit you?"

"Yeah," she replied, sitting up and pressing a hand to her neck momentarily, "It's okay, I'm healing."

He watched in morbid fascination as the blood flow slowed dramatically, and new skin quickly formed over the wound. Her face was scrunched up in pain as the familiar burning sensation assaulted her neck. She sighed when it was over.

"Come on, let's get inside and get you cleaned up." Jake suggested, helping her stand.

She smiled at him faintly, "Thanks for saving me, Jake."

He didn't bother to reply; there was no need for her to thank him. She'd already saved him a thousand times over.

Feel free to tell me your opinion, I'll be happy to hear from you. The Doc Manager was a bit funny with this chapter, so please point out anything that may be off. Hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading.