As the camp scrambled with packing up, Alice and Katie calmly went to the pickup truck where Ryan was leaning into the back door. Alice guessed that he was moving some of the stuff in the back seat so he could join them, instead of his former place of riding with Mikey in the news van.

"Ryan, ready to go?" Alice asked, walking around the front of the truck to the driver side. Even though Katie usually drove, it wasn't unusual for Alice to take the wheel. In fact, she'd completely forgotten about her motorbike, hidden away inside the M35.

"Yeah, let's get going." Ryan replied as he climbed into the back seat, directly behind the passenger seat. He closed the door and rested his head against the headrest.

The rest of the convoy fired up their engines, and Alice turned the key, getting ready to drive along behind Claire's Hummer, as usual.

However, just as she was about to drive forward, she heard a snarling sound... the exact same one she'd heard before she saw Ryan getting stabbed. She turned around and checked the back of the truck... nothing was there.

"Something wrong Alice?" Katie asked as she climbed into her seat beside her.

"I've heard a strange kinda growl twice now. I can't figure out what the fuck it is." Alice replied, turning forward and stepping on the gas pedal, falling into position behind Claire's Hummer. She remembered that K-Mart usually rode with Claire... but K-Mart was in the back of the ambulance right now. She wondered if Claire was lonely, driving alone for the first time?

"That growling is me." Ryan's voice stated, sounding slightly amused. "It's one of the few sounds I can actually make."

"What else can you do?" Alice asked, resting her arm on the bottom of her window.

Ryan lifted his head from the headrest and chuckled. Well, that was a sound... Alice thought to herself.

"I can mostly growl, snarl, laugh, and hiss. Beyond that, nothing comes out." Ryan's voice concluded after he attempted each of the sounds.

"Well, that's a start." Alice smiled. "Maybe we can work out what each of them means, so others can at least get the basic message you're saying."

"Not really, Alice." Katie stated. "The sounds are hard to assign a meaning to, because they're mostly anger related sounds. If someone misunderstands them, then they take it as a hostile response."

"That is a good point. But that doesn't mean I can't learn sign language or morse code... actually... No... I already know morse code." Ryan said as he reached across the seat to take his G36K.

Alice glanced in the rearview mirror at that moment and noticed that Ryan had looted the metal shoulder armour from the bandit that wore the hockey mask during the raid. Surprisingly though, he only wore it on one arm - The arm with is metal vambrace, giving him a completely metal plated arm from his shoulder down to his elbow, plus his vambrace. His other arm had several magazine pouches strapped to his upper arm. His leather bracer had been seemingly modifed to hold two long rows of shotgun shells, held in place by what appeared to be loops of tough leather.

"Nice armour design." Alice commented with a smirk.

"Thank you. It seemed to make sense to actually carry ammo for my Beretta, and relocate my shotgun shells to a more accessible part of my body." Ryan replied, reaching behind his back and producing an M92f Beretta pistol that neither of them had ever seen before.

"Since when have you had that pistol?" Alice asked, curious, but also surprised. She'd never seen it on his body, nor in actual use. She wondered where he actually kept it hidden as well.

"I had it long before I joined the convoy. I just rarely ever take it out, partly because of one of Claire's gun rules, but also because I use it as a last resort. If I have absolutely no more ammo, and I NEED to use a gun, then I'll pull this out. But, usually when a situation like that arises, I use my wrist blade, or someone helped me escape." Ryan explained as he released the magazine for the Beretta and checked inside. He rammed it back inside and checked the breach before returning it to his back.

"Where do you even hide the thing?" Alice asked.

"Inside the back of my pants." Ryan replied, which made Katie giggle.

"What's so funny, Katie?" Alice glanced at her in confusion. What was so funny about keeping his gun in the back of his waistband?

"So... you're saying you literally pull that pistol out of your ass?" Katie joked, which earned a small smile from Ryan, and a scoff from Alice.

"Yes, Katie. I made sure to slide it down my ass crack every time I put it back." Ryan's voice countered sarcastically. "No, I actually have a concealed-carry holster for it." He added seriously, glancing at his G36K in his arms. Alice glanced at him in the rearview mirror and noticed that his eyes had a strange glint in his eyes as he looked first as his rifle, then at his M3 for several quick repetitions. He was thinking of SOMETHING for the two guns... She just had no idea what.

"Alice..." Ryan's voice sounded low and thoughtful, which confirmed Alice's theory that he was planning something. "Where is your shotgun?"

Alice used her Telekinesis to retrieve it from beneath the back seat, and presented it to him. He took it from the air and examined it intently before positioning it underneath the barrel of his G36K in the same way a grenade launcher would be attached.

"Hmmm... might need to... yeah. This will be perfect." Ryan's voice seemed to be more towards himself than Alice.

"What the hell are you planning, Ry?" Alice glanced at him as Claire turned a corner ahead of them, making Alice follow suit.

"My M3 isn't the right size. I was planning on attaching your M37 to the underbarrel rail on my G36K... as an undermounted shotgun." Ryan replied. "Want to trade shotguns?"

Katie and Alice's jaws both dropped. He was WILLINGLY giving up his beloved and pristine M3... for Alice's old and dirty M37?!

"You sure about that? It's your M3 we're talking about here."

"First of all, Alice..." Ryan began, looking up from his guns. "If I used my M3 for this idea, I would have to remove the stock, and shorten both the barrel and the shell tube by at least a foot and a half. However..." He tapped the M37 with his index finger. "All I would have to do for your M37 is to reverse-engineer an attachment rail to the top of the chassis, then combine them together."

"Well, it's fine with me. Just do me a favour and reload it?" Alice said as Claire's voice sounded over the radio.

"There's a big horde on the road ahead of us, Ryan, Katie... I want you two to go ahead of me and fry them. Everyone else, slow down until they finish."

"Copy that, Claire." Alice raised her radio after Ryan and Katie gave their nods of acknowledgement. They both leaned out of opposite windows and readied their respective powers: Katie's palms were flickering with fireballs while Ryan's metal clad right arm crackled and sparked with blue-white electricity. Both of them were concentrating intensely as Alice drove them past Claire's Hummer and towards a sizable horde of infected that spanned quite a large swath of the road.

With a dull roar, Katie began hurling a volley of fireballs into the center of the horde, which exploded violently upon impact.

Ryan however, was still waiting as Alice continued to drive them forward, already enshrouding the truck with a Telekinetic shield in case she had to ram her way through.

Why isn't he attacking them yet? She wondered to herself. He has a clear shot at them... right?

Suddenly with a sizzling crackle, Ryan directed an absolutely massive lightning bolt into the crowd, causing several infected to shudder and twitch before causing their heads to burst into bloody mist.

But that didn't stop there:The lightning bolt arched between the zombies, then the next second, several other zombies - some of which were aflame from Katiee's onslaught - also had their heads explode from electrical overload... then more... and more, until absolutely none of them were left standing... or with their heads still attached for that matter.

Returning to his seat in silence, Alice noticed that he was slightly out of breath from that shocking display. Before she could even give her compliments to his display, he promptly fell across the seats on his side with a groan.

"Ryan!" Alice and Katie called his name as Alice slowed the truck to a halt. They deduced after a few seconds that the lightning he'd done drained his stamina, and he'd passed out.

Relaxing, Alice called Claire over the radio. "We're done up here... but Ryan just passed out."

"Let me know when he's awake." Claire replied as she drove past them.

Alice quickly shifted back to driving behind Claire for several minutes, until Ryan gave a noise from the back seat, clearly awake again.

"Fuck, you almost gave us heart attacks! How are you feeling, Ryan?" Alice commented with a glance in the rearview mirror at him as he blinked a few times to clear his vision.

"I feel like shit, to be dead honest. All that power took a lot out of me." Ryan's voice replied, sounding slightly tired.

"At least you're awake." Alice sighed, then informed Claire over the radio that he was finally awake.

"Good. Tell him to be careful next time he does that."

Ryan gave a chuckle as he nodded. Alice smirked and replied. "He heard you."

Claire said nothing more, and the convoy continued to drive in silence for a few hours until Claire signalled to pull over at the side of the road.

Stepping out of the truck with his G36K at the ready, Ryan was on high alert for some reason, scanning the surroundings with his brow furrowed. Alice noticed his tension and she rested her new M3 on her shoulder as she returned from speaking with Claire.

"Claire said we're just taking a quick break. We'll be back on the move in ten minutes." Alice announced to him, while he spared her a momentary glance to show he'd heard her. "So why are you so tense?"

"Can't you feel it? There is something about this area..." Ryan replied, his voice sounding low and cautious in her head. "It doesn't feel safe to be here."

"Is it from the T-Virus?" Alice asked, keeping her voice down as a few other survivors walked past them.

"No... Something else. I can't quite figure out the reason nor the source. We have to leave. Now." Ryan replied, and Alice heard him click off his rifle's safety to drive his point home.

Alice gave him a glance, and could tell that underneath his mask he was scowling heavily. But then it hit her like a ton of bricks... Literally.

With a grunt of pain, Alice was knocked off her feet to the ground, her M3 falling from her grasp and clattering across the ground as blood began to spread across her shoulder.

"SNIPER!" Alice yelled, grabbing her shoulder as Ryan instantly redirected his rifle in the direction the shot came from, and aimed with a snarl rising in his throat.

The entire convoy scrambled for cover as Ryan crouched down and held out his arm for her to grab.

"I'm getting you out of the open. Take my hand." Ryan's voice called through her haze of pain. She grabbed his elbow with her good arm and allowed him to drag her towards the pickup.

Placing his hand on her cheek, Ryan said. "When you're ready, I'll bring you the M3."

Giving him a smile, she nodded and glanced at her shoulder. "You might need to play doctor on me... the bullet feels like it shattered."

In the moment before Ryan stood up, Alice could have sworn that his yellow eyes suddenly changed to slit pupils, like a dragon. They'd completely lost their usual sparkling glow.

He was PISSED.

With careful and precise aim, Ryan fired off into the distance, then tugged his mask down and whistled towards Katie, who was taking cover beside Claire behind the Hummer.

"Katie, run to the M35 and grab the silver briefcase on the left side. I'll cover you." He broadcast to her, which she replied with a nod.

"Ready!" Katie called, gripping her MP7 with both hands.

"Go!" He replied, firing at several small shapes that he could tell were hidden sniper nests far off in the desert sands.

Katie sprinted as fast as she coud towards the big cargo truck, and hauled herself into the back, quickly locating the briefcase he'd mentioned. She grabbed it with her free hand and returned to the pickup truck, sliding to the ground beside Alice, who raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar case.

"Unlock it, and slide it over to me." Ryan broadcast to the pair, and continued to pick off the half dozen sniper nests he could see with the mid range optic that was integrated into his G36K.

Unlatching the case, Katie gave it a hefty kick and caused it to skitter across the road before comming to a halt beside him.

Dropping to his stomach, Ryan opened the case and began to pull out a disassembled sniper rifle. He put it together in less than forty seconds, rammed a loaded magazine inside and pulled the bolt. He flipped the lens caps open and peered down the scope.

For a moment, nothing happened. Ryan wasn't firing and neither were the surviving snipers... But then Ryan fired. The gunshot blasted up a small dust cloud in front of him, and it didn't take a genius to realize that his rifle was of a massive calibre.

Four shots later, Ryan breathed an audible sigh as he turned to Claire nearby and gave a thumbs up to signal the all clear.

"Are they dead, Ryan?!" Claire called and he nodded as he stood up with the massive rifle in his hands.

"Are there anyone that was wounded?" Claire asked, placing her hand on his shoulder at the moment that Ryan broadcast to Alice. "Alice... How is your shoulder?"

With a gasp, Claire removed her hand and took a step back. She could have sworn she heard him talk. He gave her a raised eyebrow as she experimentally reach out to touch him again.

"Say something else, Ryan. Say my name." She said as she gingerly touched his hand.

"Claire Redfield?" Ryan broadcast, just like how he would if he was communicating with Alice or Katie.

"Holy shit! I heard you! I swear I just heard you!" Claire gawked at Ryan, then at her hand, then realized that there was finally a way for him to talk again. "I can hear you... in my head, whenever I touch you. Say a number!"

"Eleven."

Claire exhaled in relief. "You said eleven, right?" He nodded, then pointed towards the distant sniper dens. "Eleven snipers. There's something odd about that. Wait here, I'll go check it out with Katie."

Handing her the sniper rifle, Ryan grabbed the fallen M3 from the ground as he returned to Katie and Alice. He returned the shotgun and must have explained his intentions to Katie and Alice - Since he didn't need direct contact for them to hear him - and lead Katie out into the desert towards the dens.

"Claire." Alice called to Claire, who was numbly staring at her very numb hand (courtesy of Ryan's electrified body.)

"Yeah?" She replied, taking her gaze away from her hand. She strode over to Alice, who had remained seated with her back against the pickup truck's tire. He M3 was laid across her lap, blood still oozing down her shirt. "Oh, shit. C'mon, let's get you to Betty."

Taking Alice's good arm, she put it over her shoulder lead her to the ambulance, where Betty gretted her with a smile and a loaded syringe of painkillers. Alice noticibly grimaced.

"First time takng a bullet?" She teased as she shooed Claire away.

Alice shook her head. "No. I just fucking hate needles."

A/N: Ryan's metal armour becomes important later on, and that sniper rifle he used is indeed a .50 cal :P