The War Ends Now

by Onkwehonwe Kashatstenhshera

Following the events in 2013, the survivors of Raccoon City find themselves in Puerto Rico and eventually New York and India to stop new bio hazard epidemics and to catch the one responsible. But what about a menace they thought was gone? How will they survive as the world erupts into a third world war with the virus used as weapons by the world powers in its vortex?

8. The Truth Shall Break Your Heart

Ok I'm just going pick up with Carlos right where i left off. He had a flashback about his sexual encounter with Jill, a past encounter as well as his reflections on his past back in the day when he was a guerrilla not direct flashbacks to that but in the future i will feature that as well. So far he has spotted Barry. And now onto the update! Enjoy

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Carlos

He had no desire to kill any members of the BSAA but he would if he had to. He would kill any that tried to kill him or any that tried to kill any ALF members. He had to protect his cover. He would kill whoever he had to. He would not kill Barry though and Barry would not kill him. He had befriended the older man after he had saved him and Jill from being barbecued in Raccoon City. Now, he saw agents all over the place and they were walking among soldiers.

He turned to his comrades and whispered, "Debemos tratar de colarse a su alrededor. Hay un montón de ellos y un montón de soldados yanquis en la zona y no hay suffiente de todos nosotros el resto de la gente está de vuelta en el fuerte. Acabábamos de tener pérdidas si nos comprometemos aquí."

(We should try to sneak around them. There's a lot of them and a lot of Yankee soldiers in the area and there's not enough of us all the rest of the people are back at the fort. We'd just take losses if we engage them here.)

Armando spoke up saying, "Sí, estoy con Carlos en este caso. Ha estado en la lucha por un largo tiempo y se las arregló para evitar la muerte de nuevo en el Amazonas. Podemos luchar contra ellos más tarde, cuando tenemos números más grandes y tienen más refuerzos a la vez, pero por ahora creo que debemos permanecer fuera de su camino. Si lo que Miguel dice es verdad, eso significa que están aquí sólo para matar a los demonios, no nosotros."

(Yes, i am with Carlos on this one. He's been in the struggle a long time and he managed to avoid death back in the Amazon. We can fight them later when we have bigger numbers and have more reinforcements all at once but for now I think we should stay out of their way. If what Miguel says is true, that means they are just here to kill the demons not us.)

Pedro snarled as quietly as he could, "Me importa un comino lo que la BSAA está aquí! Este es nuestro país, nuestra tierra. Ahora tal vez respaldados por la ONU como muchos grupos de fuerzas especiales dicen ser, pero todo el mundo sabe que las Naciones Unidas se inclinarán cada vez que Estados Unidos quiere que lo hagan. Piense en cuántas veces los han tenido por las bolas! Yo digo que tomamos ya que muchos de estos hijos de puta abajo y correr por las colinas. Al igual que el Che habría!"

(I don't give a damn what the BSAA is here for! This is our country, our land. Now they maybe backed up by the U.N. as many special forces groups claim to be but everybody knows that the United Nations will bow whenever the United States wants them to. Think of how many times they have had them by the balls! I say we take as many of these bastards down and run for the hills. Just like Che would have!)

Paula hissed back in an angry whisper, " ¿Por qué no nos tomamos un voto sobre el mismo? La mayoría decide!"

There were only seven of them. Armando, Paula and Miguel were with Carlos on that plus his own vote. Pedro and two of his men voted to attack. "De cuatro a tres. Vamos a ser inteligentes acerca de esto!" (Four to three. We are going to be smart about this!)

Pedro rolled his eyes but they kept quiet and crawled in position in the tall grass past the many BSAA agents. Pedro briefly looked up and said, "Cuento las diez de la mayoría! Podríamos matar a los agentes y salir de la zona antes de cualquiera de los soldados vinieron buscando! Hemos enfrentado peor!" (I count ten at most! We could kill the agents and get out of the area before any of the soldiers came looking! We've faced worse!)

Carlos was getting tired of Pedro's shit. "No, idiota! Usted honrar el voto al igual que tendríamos si hubiéramos perdido!" (No, jackass! You honor the vote just like we would have if we had lost!)

So they continued crawling. Carlos gt his Walther out keeping the AK-47 strapped around him. As they sneaked past the soldiers, whom Carlos assumed were Marines, he saw they were trying to put down as many of the infected as they could. Some of the infected had guns themselves and were even former soldiers themselves. Carlos whispered to the rebels, in particular, one woman named Alicia, "¿Hay alguna palabra todavía sobre cómo estas personas se infectaron?"

(Is there any word yet on how these people got infected? ) Alicia, a lady with shorter brown hair and golden tan skin replied,"No estoy seguro. Al igual que Pedro dijo, es posible que el . encontró una manera de infectar, pero si lo que dicen es cierto acerca de la ciudad de Nueva York están infectados con el mismo tipo de cosas, entonces tal vez se trata de algo más grande."

(I'm not sure. Like Pedro said, it's possible the USA found a way to infect us but if what they are saying is true about New York City being infected with the same kind of thing, then we maybe dealing with something bigger.)

Carlos thought to himself, Great, so they know as much as I do and Pedro is a fucking idiot. Either that or he knows more than he lets on and is keeping the others in the dark intentionally.

Just then as he looked up he saw a helicopter sailing by. A man with a Sniper Rifle leaned out of it and fired a shot. There was more BSAA agents in the area than just those in Barry's squad. One of the agents from another squad, a South American BSAA agent from Argentina, was hit with a round to the chest. The bullet pierced through his armor and the man went down. He fired another shot and hit some agent from the United States. This shot hit the woman in the side of the face.

It blew both her brains as well as skull fragments all over a team mate next to her, an agent from Barbados. The man looked as though he wanted to vomit but he instead ran for cover trying to get away from the gunfire. They pulled up to a roof of a building. It looked to be some kind of warehouse that had been used for some kind of storage. A few armed men with Assault Rifles dropped down from the chopper grappling down. The man with the Sniper Rifle kept firing and hit two more agents. Carlos observed Barry and his team mates taking cover but returning fire. "Jesus Christ! Who the hell are these bastards?" He shouted.

A red haired woman who looked like some type of medic, said, "I think they're with The Family! Those are the same kind of masks they had in Lanshiang!" Barry began firing his pistol like a madman, at one of the Family goons and hit a man in a rabbit mask with six round in the abdomen, five in the stomach and one in the chest. An agent and one of Barry's subordinates, asked, "Are they infected?" An agent with a Heckler & Koch yelled, "Who gives a shit? A hostile is a hostile!"

They looked up to see the sniper and the heli was making it's way back around. He had taken a few rounds in return fire but was still picking off BSAA agents. A marine called to hiss C.O., "They're attacking those special forces guys! Should we help them?"

The Marine with superior rank shook his head. "If they wanted us they would have taken a shot at us. They haven't. Those men have a job to do and so do we! Don't engage, corporal! This is not our fight! We have to put down the resistance!" The soldier, a rosy faced rookie with a shaved head couldn't follow that order. "I have to try! They've helped us so far! They're trying to get rid of whatever is making all the people in town crazy!"

He fired his Assault Rifle up at the chopper trying to pick off the shooter. "Tyler, I said no! What the hell is wrong with you?!" The man was struck by a round in the abdomen and he fell back. "Goddamn it!" He shouted as he tried to drag the wounded Marine to cover. The Family shooter continued firing but he had also spotted the seven ALF rebels creeping through the grass. He reloaded as the chopper circled back around. They were now able to get to cover behind a twelve foot wall.

Carlos felt a lump in his throat as he took cover and readied his AK just in case. If The Family was behind the infection, this was bad news. It would certainly explain why they weren't taking any unnecessary shots at the soldiers but were shooting at the BSAA agents. They also would have fired on Carlos if he hadn't run out of ammo. They heard the rattle of automatic fire ripping through the air as the three men who had Assault Rifles engaged the BSAA agents. The other Marines obeyed their commanding officer and did not engage the Family gunmen any further.

The Family...I've never had a run in with them but I've heard a lot and read a lot about them. From the reports I read about Lanshiang, it sounds like they could be the next big major threat. Umbrella might actually be taking aback seat for once...

He contemplated the gunmen that had shot the BSAA agents yet had still left the soldiers alone aside from the soldier that had opened fire on them. Maybe it was because the Family was an organization that had shaped the modern world from the 19th century to the twenty first and they had propped up America on the world stage. Maybe it was because of this that they had not opened fire on the soldiers?

Maybe, whoever was running The Family, had a similar intention to that of Albert Wesker only with much more control and much more ability to control the parts of thew world they cared for?

They'd had a hand in the bio terrorist attacks in Tall Oaks and in China which made them just as guilty as Umbrella. Carlos aimed down his sights at the Sniper and fired letting off several rounds, and then several more as the automatic weapon kicked in his hands. The man was hit in the left knee cap, the left side of the rib cage, and the right elbow. The man fell from the helicopter. He had a compound fracture as a result of fall. They ran up to the wounded man. He was crying out in agony.

He grabbed him by the hair and pulled his mask off. "Who are you and what are you people doing here?!" He demanded and began punching the man. The man grinned after three blows,his teeth red with blood from the punches. "You think I'm going to tell you? Go fuck yourself!" He was still writhing from the pain his leg. He was not infected, Carlos could plainly see yet he had worn a lot of the same kinds of masks that the J'avo in China had. Maybe it was because he was part of The Family?

The man was whimpering and his voice was shaky but he said, "You...think...you're actually...going to win...against America? We have control! We have the CIA on our payroll...we have...the army,. we have influence over the UN...you thought Neo Umbrella was going to be trouble for you...? Albert Wesker was a fool! He thought he could create order out of chaos! This would be true except...if there was no...humanity left to take control of...and as many of us had been rejected by the Uroboros as we would have...that colossal prick would have had no world left to take over...Alex Wesker...at least has a plan! He knows some of the humans have to be...alive. To serve."

Carlos asked him, "What else do you know?" He grabbed him by the collar. "You'd better tell me, amigo. You don't get to die yet. I'll pop that spear right back into your leg sew it up and then rip it back out again and we can do this all night long. You think I've never dealt with people like you? You're just a low grade thug. I was shooting firearms when you were shooting rubber bands in grade school. Dont fuck with me, pendejo!"

The man growled in agony and spat blood at him. "You think I'm afraid of you? I'm not saying anything!" Carlos nodded at Pedro who gave the man a kick in his wound leg and Carlos squeezed his wounds from the bullets he'd received. He screeched loudly in pain at the top of his lungs. "You motherfucker! Ahhhhh! You cunt!" Carl;os punched him again causing more pain, now he was getting a triple dose of it, from the kick from Pedro, the squeezing of his bullet wounds and the wicked left cross courtesy of Carlos. He then began to choke the man and say, "If you aren't going to spit it out, you can choke on it!" He began to try to squeeze the life out of him.

" All right! Fuck it! I'm dead to the Family anyway! Look..." Carlos let him go. His breathing was labored and he said, "Okay...Alex...essentially has the same plans as Albert does...to be a god of mankind. But he's not going to use such a cut and cold dry tactic as Uroboros. He's got other ways humans can elevate to the next stage of evolution or stay where they are. Essentially, he found a way to synthesize the virus. In a way where it wouldn't just kill you or mutate or reject you like you were trash on the evolutionary food chain..."

He took a sharp breath and exhaled saying, "Essentially...there is a new virus. It has common traits with every virus you've ever heard of or read about so far. It's as basic and common as the T Virus was. Depending on your genetics, that is. If this was unleashed in gas form...like China...and Tall Oaks...it would result in zombies, just like the ones they made from the C virus which in short isn't that different from T virus B.O.W's...but ...it has the mutation qualities, though it varies,...of the G virus...my point is...those that end up as zombies by breathing it in gas or as your more intelligent carrier if directly injected, they're rejected by the evolutionary food chain too...but they don't have to die unlike Albert's plans."

He coughed up blood, clearly having internal bleeding. When he stopped and was able to breathe he continued, "They can be used for manual labor, for an army, to enforce the coming of the new world! Really, Alex's plan is just an expansion on what we at the family have done for years. We keep order in the world but with Alex's new virus...he can do more than that. Those who are worthy, in the testing of the virus...they are given free will. They are the ones who will rule the new world. They will not have to be in mental captivity at the whim of others! There doesn't even have to be near as much destruction as Albert would have unleashed with his chaotic intentions!"

Carlos shook his head. "No matter what you do, there will always be chaos when bio terrorism and any kind of virus that makes the B.O.W's is involved. As for evolution, it isn't something you force over night! If you or Albert or any of the assholes in Neo Umbrella had ever read a book on how evolution works, you would know that!"

The man chuckled. "No...no...you've got it all wrong. We never were saying that we wouldn't destroy the unworthy. Obviously, while Rome, for example, had it's many many laborers and slaves that made the fabric of that society into the great achievement that it was, there was still the many many vandals that needed to be wiped out! Those who stand in the way of progress! They will be destroyed but Albert was never going to differentiate between the two. Humans who were willing to cooperate versus those who would not. There would obviously be those who did want to live and therefore would willingly go along with what we're planning!"

Carlos was in disbelief. "I knew you were evil but damn I had no idea you guys were this loco! You can sugar coat it and paint it however you want to. There's no difference between Alex and Albert or Umbrella or the Family! As far as I'm concerned you're all terrorists! First world terrorists! There's no way we're letting you get away with this! Neo Umbrella is almost completely gone and once it is we'll make sure it stays gone and as for The Family, I'm going to take you all down brick by brick, cabron!"

The Family goon smiled saying, "You think I don't know what you are? You're a member of the BSAA. How else would you know about any of the number of things we're talking about? You would be heroes are not going to change a thing. You're essentially Hannibal fighting for Carthage, my friend! You...can't fight progress! You can't fight destiny! The Romans...conquered all the uncivilized societies...the Indians...well I don't have to tell you what Manifest Destiny was...hard as you tried to fight it...that didn't work very well did it? Same as now only ...and scenery...you can try to fight us...but you're gonna looooooose..." He wheezed, still hoarse from Carlos's iron grip earlier.

Carlos had gotten more than enough out of the assassin, just about all he needed but he said, "One last question. What is the name of this new virus you mentioned?" The man started to reply but before he could, a bullet entered the side of his skull and exited on the right side of his temple, causing a mess with what it had passed through and left behind. Carlos looked to see a man holding a smoking Sniper Rifle, about a hundred yards way all though he could not make out what he looked like as it was only a silhouette.

Carlos didn't even have time to react before the man was shot himself, presumably by the BSAA. Damn it! Why did he have to kill him right then? He was about to give me the information I needed!

They began to sneak out of the area and they met up near a tree. "¿Qué ha pasado? ¿Quiénes eran esos hombres, Carlos? ¿Qué es lo que el hombre dice a usted?" (What happened? Who were those men, Carlos? What did that man say to you?)

For fear of blowing his own cover he said, "Es un agente de la CIA, creo. Él sólo me dijo que la revolución no tenía sentido y que teníamos ninguna posibilidad de obtener la independencia de los Estados Unidos," (He's a CIA operative, I think. He just told me the revolution was pointless and that we had no chance of ever gaining independence from the United States)

Pedro stared at him a moment and then said, "¿Por qué los suyos no le disparan si era un agente de la CIA? Eso no cuadra," (Why would his own people shoot him if he was a CIA agent? That doesn't add up. )

Carlos looked up at Pedro and said, "No puedo decir con certeza, pero si tuviera que supongo que sería para que dejara de ser capturado e interrogado," (I can't say for sure but if I had to guess it would be to stop him from being captured and questioned )

Carlos checked the man to see if he had any ammunition. He did. He also went to recover the Sniper Rifle. He picked it up and saw that it was a Barett M98B. Manufactured in 08'. It had a ten round capacity and three box magazines each to come with. However, the Rifle was empty so Carlos had to put a fresh mag in. He looked through the scope. Armando suggested, "¿Y si supieran lo que les dijo hasta ahora y lo que iba a decir?"

(What if they knew what he told you so far and what he was going to tell you?)

The BSAA agent shook his head. "No se. No tuve nada bueno de él. Fue un año duro de roer," (I don't know. I didn't get anything good out of him. He was a tough one to crack.)

Pedro leered at him and asked, "Así que si usted ha tenido más tiempo, tú le habrías llegado a soltar la sopa? Bueno, podemos hablar de esto más tarde. Tenemos algunos compañeros que vienen de San Juan con más armas y suministros que necesitamos. Carlos, ¿te importaría estar aquí y observar lo que los soldados y los agentes de la BSAA están haciendo? Armando, quédate con él. Vigile a cabo."

(So you think if you've had more time you would have gotten him to spill the beans? Well, we can talk about this later. We've got some comrades coming in from San Juan with more weapons and supplies we need. Carlos, would you mind stand here and observe what the soldiers and these BSAA agents are up to? Armando, you stay with him. Keep a watch out.)

Armando shook his head. "Usted sabe que tengo que estar a lo largo de dicha reunión también! No puedo, hermano. Vamos a llegar a alguien más a tener en cuenta lo."

(You know I have to be along for that meeting too!I can't, brother. Let's get somebody else to watch out for him)

Pedro sighed, visually distressed but Miguel spoke up and said, "Voy a mirar hacia fuera para él. Envíame con él, Pedro. La vida de un hermano mío. Sé que no puede ser fácil volver donde está el tener que haber luchado contra el gobierno, así como los carteles. Quiero ayudarle!"

(I'll watch out for him. Send me with him, Pedro. A brother's life is my own. I know it can't be easy back where he is from having to have fought the government, as well as the cartels. I want to help him! )

"Muy bien. Si tú lo dices. Así que asegúrese de informar a la guarida si encuentras algo. Además, toma esto. Ponte en contacto conmigo en que si no pasa nada digno de mención. No vamos a estar lejos. Justo en las afueras de la ciudad para cumplir con el convoy traernos suministros de la ciudad madre. Es mucho más fácil ser un luchador de ALF en la ciudad en vez de en un pueblo pequeño como éste. Me alegro de que son conscientes de ello."

(Very well. If you say so. Just be sure and report back to the hideout if you find anything. Also, take this. Contact me on it if anything worth reporting happens. We won't be far. Just outside of town to meet the convoy bringing us supplies from the mother city. It is much easier to be an ALF fighter in the city rather than out in a smaller town such as this. I am glad they are aware of this. )

They began to head off, Carlos and Miguel stayed low. As they parted company, Pedro leaned over to Alicia's ear and told her, "Usted tiene un rifle de francotirador también. Asegúrese de ver los dos. Carlos es de otro país que está muy bien pero tengo un mal presentimiento sobre él. En cuanto a la otra, me encanta nuestra gente, no importa dónde se encuentren, pero siempre hay una posibilidad de que le ha lavado el cerebro por el Tío Sam y es un peón de los Estados Unidos. Un patriota, por lo que sabemos!"

(You have a Sniper Rifle too. Be sure to watch those two. Carlos is from another country which is fine but I get a bad feeling about him. As for the other one, I love our people no matter where they are but there is always a chance that he has been brainwashed by Uncle Sam and is a pawn for the United States. A patriot, for all we know!)

She looked at him with a scowl and scolded him, "Eres demasiado paranoico! Hay gente de todo el continente americano que se preocupan por la justicia social y la libertad de colonization.I necesita más que una corazonada si voy a matarlos."

(You are too paranoid! There are people all over the Americas that care about social justice and freedom from colonization.I need more than a hunch if I'm going to kill them.)

He shook his head. "Yo no he dicho eso. Sólo ten cuidado. Sólo matarlos si acercan a los soldados o de alguna manera ellos se involucran en una manera amistosa. Es mi trabajo asegurarme de que veo todos los ángulos antes de confiar a nadie."

(I did not say that. Just watch. Only kill them if they walk up to the soldiers or in any way engage them in a friendly manner. It's my job to make sure I see all angles before I trust anybody.)

Meanwhile, Carlos and Miguel walked slowly, creeping from cover to cover trying to observe what was going on. There was still a lot of gunfire sounding off. Miguel turned to Carlos and whispered, "All right, I'm just gonna come out and say it. You're a member of the BSAA aren't you?" Carlos noticed the kid had a New York accent. Most likely the Bronx by the sound of him.

Carlos demanded, "How do you know that? Who have you been talking to?" Miguel admitted, "You know your boy Chris Redfield? Said he was a friend of a friend," He shook his head, his mood suddenly darkening as he knew he meant Jill. "He's no friend of mine. Nowadays I'm not so sure even she is but all the same, I do have a job to do and so do they and we are working together. Goddamn it, I'm going to kick his ass when I see him that was extremely irresponsible of him to tell you!"

Miguel informed him, "It's nothing to flip out about. They wanted my word that I wouldn't let any harm come to you.I filled in the guys back there as to who I think the BSAA are but I can't guarantee they'd take it as cool as I did if they found out you're one of them so let's keep that between you and me, okay?"

Carlos exhaled saying, "No arguments there! Besides like I said we aren't here for you guys anyway. Not entirely that is. We just want whoever set off this shit on the island. See an outbreak in the States would be bad because there are so many people but I think the Army alone could probably hold off the carriers and contain it. It's been done before but here? Well it maybe a smaller population but an island like Puerto Rico, nothing around you but water? We'd be fucked."

He then asked, "What about you, Miguel? Are you the real deal? You aren't any outside organization are you?" The man shook his head. "I came here as a college student on vacation! I pretty much fucked up my grades I know I'm a college dropout at this point but what could I do? These are my countrymen down here suffering cause of whatever this virus is. That, plus I see how the American government is going too far. If they'd just let P.R. be independent there wouldn't even be a need for a war but obviously they feel like land they stole is theirs. It wasn't just the politics of it either that got to me. It's that they were attacking people just for setting up fuckin food and medicine tents, man!"

Carlos nodded in understanding having dealt with this kind of thing long before this kid was an inch in his papi's chorizo. "It's the same thing with the U.S., hermano. The protests in Occupy got pretty ugly. The police in New York cracked down on people for setting up tents for the homeless to sleep in. I mean obviously the protests never got this far butt maybe that's the difference between third world and first world. No juevos. No heart. They haven't had everything taken from them and had nothing to lose so this kind of shit is new to them. They were just fine with the system when those yuppies were able to go to college on their banker dad''s payroll. But soon as they go from upper class to middle class to upper middle class, they want to act like they were with the cause from day one."

Carlos observed the younger rebel's Rifle. "So how did you come by a piece of artillery like that? It isn't your Run-Of-The-Mill choice for out typical Guerrilla fighter," Miguel looked down at it and said, "Well I just had a pistola before ut when some soldiers came shooting some of the peaceful members of the ALF who just set up food and medical tents, they shot at me too. They hit me even but I got them. We managed to kill a few but I was the only one that survived. It's not my typical choice either but then I never really used a Rifle before aside from target practice. The Bronx aint as wild as Rico but it's still a jungle out there."

Just then, they observed another burst of gunfire. Now when gunfire was already happening this would not have been out of the ordinary except now there was a soldier who had mutated from the original J'avo stage and was now flying having sprouted up new limbs and was upside down and firing an Assault Rifle.

Carlos had read about them in the reports from Edonia and China. He'd even seen a few dead ones in pictures from BSAA files but nothing compared to the real deal. Miguel's dark eyes went wide with panic, "Oh shit what the hell is that?!It's like something straight out of hell!"

The thing growled as it rained bullets upon the Marines that were in sight. Carlos could no longer see Barry. At least two soldiers were killed by the rounds while three more were wounded. The Sgt whose face looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't remember why as he had never met the vato, was firing his Assault Rifle going for head shots at the thing. A black Marine near him gave him covering fire as some zombies were headed that way too. All hell was breaking loose if zombies and J'avo were all in the same area as each other.

He let out a storm of rounds, also going for head shots against the C virus zombies but also settling for shots to the abdomen when they hit. He dropped four of them in a row and backed up. The soldier took rounds in the chest but luckily did not go through the armor. "Damn, boss! I thought we were here to kill tangos, not face an army of undead cannibals! And freaky looking moth man motherfuckers!"

The Sgt fired ten rounds letting them hit the thing in it's abdomen trying to drop it from flight. He then finished it with another burst hitting it with four founds in the head to finish it off. The Marine who had covered the Sarge was checking a few of the bodies who had been dropped and shouted, "Sarge! Private Atkins is down, and Harris is wounded! I just found him he took slugs in the left femur!"

Carlos and Miguel began to move around trying to flank them just in case they had to. Some of the soldiers were spreading out to frank the zombies. A Marine, who looked to be about twenty five or so was reloading and retreating. She had just gotten a fresh magazine into her Rifle when she noticed both Carlos and Miguel. Damn! They had done a good job going undetected so far!

The woman started to yell back to her commanding officer but Carlos hit her with the butt of his Rifle and she fell back dazed. She was prepared to defend herself but Miguel fired the rounds from his Assault Rifle into her chest and stomach at point blank range. He aimed for her head and was about to fire the last of the mag into her but saw as she coughed up blood that due to the close range a lot of the rounds had made it through the armor.

A second soldier, presumably, a private, came back to check on the source of the gunfire. "Carrie, you okay?"Carlos fired and hit the man but he too was quick and he hit Carlos back. Carlos was luckily in a vest of his own as the BSAA gave them to even their undercover agents. The rounds knocked him back as he was not prepared to be hit and at least one slug grazed his left arm. Though the Marine was wounded, he was still on his feet. Miguel had panicked and fired the last of his magazine at the guy but had missed him.

"Damn it!" He cursed, letting the soldier know he spoke perfect English. "We aren't terrorist you sack of shit! We didn't want to have to shoot her but she drew on us!" The soldier growled saying, "Should have thought of that before you messed with the Marine Corps, asshole!" He aimed at Carlos and he closed his eyes aware that he was probably going to die. A single shot rang out and he felt no pain and no blood. He looked to see the man had been shot, taking a round in the neck.

Miguel looked around saying, "Who did that? Was that a Sniper bullet?" Carlos nodded as he stood up. "I think so. We should get moving who knows who else might be around here watching?"

They did and they headed out of there. They headed south east of the church that had been in the center of town. They were quite a ways away from it but the fire on the roof of it was still visible. Miguel observed and said "More than likely, that was one of ours up there. I just hope nobody is in the church itself that might have gotten hurt. I think one of the soldiers used a grenade launcher or maybe a rocket launcher."

Carlos observed the crucifix around his neck. "You're a Christian?" Miguel nodded. "Yeah. Aren't you?" Carlos strongly shook his head. "No. That's the religion of the conquistadors. Our people knew of a higher power long before they brought their hippie God, Jesus. I'm what you call a traditional. I mean I've lost my way in some aspects of my life but ike all creatures on the earth, I'm trying to find my way back home. Physically and spiritually."

Miguel heard him out and said, "Well I can't help it, bro. My jefita raised me Catholic. I know that aint the religion of the Tainos either but I never knew what the real thing was. That's part of why I came here. To learn more than I ever learned back home about Puerto Rican history. I know the basics but I want the spiritual side of it too. For now, the crucifix is all I got, man. I know what the Spaniards did was bad and all and maybe some Christians did some fucked up shit but some knowledge is also universal."

Carlos shot him a skeptical look. "I was raised up in that bullshit too, mano. My parents had to pretend they were Christians but in reality were trying to return to the old way. Still, the schools we went to they never heard of religious freedom so I had to learn it all. They say Christianity is a religion of love. You know what it really is? Hate. Hate and conquered societies. A bunch of rules that don't even make sense half the time. I was a good little Catholic boy too until I became a guerrilla. I removed the blindfold from my vision."

Miguel impatiently sighed and said, "Carlos, I get what you mean but maybe part of the Indigenous spirit is being at one with the creator and with the world? Maybe in that sense, despite the bad things the church has done, we're still here aren't we? We survived. Anyway, mi madre taught me Jesus didn't just die for Europeans he died for everybody."

Carlos snorted. "Yeah, trust me I was told the same story since the cradle. Well I hate to burst your bubble, kid but Jesus is a rip off of older pagan traditions and societies. The virgin birth? Go look at any of the Egyptian and Greek belief systems. That's why the Jews rejected him as the Messiah for over 2000 years too. They knew he was just a Roman attempt at mixing paganism with Judaism. Their view of the actual Messiah was a human mortal born of normal parents. Not a demi God and not the son of a virgin. Isn't it funny how Christianity is seen as religion, science is seen as facts but in any Pre Colombian creation stories from any tribes, we get chalked up as myths? Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

Carlos took a breath and then said, "I'm not telling you what to believe but ask yourself. Do you believe in this shit because you chose to and had a spiritual calling to it or was it because somewhere down the line, your ancestors had it forced on them?"

Miguel's mouth dropped open and he then said, "That's actually a really good point...I never saw it like that until now," Carlos beckoned toward the muzzle flashes in the distance. "Does that look like the kind of world that is any better off because of one guy getting crucified? A lot of people got crucified in the first century."

Just then, they heard footsteps and they snapped out of their conversation. Miguel went prone aand took cover in some grass while Carlos crouched down his Walter ready and he was prepared to shoot whoever or whatever was coming in their direction. Suddenly, he was staring Barry in the face. A female agent had an H&K MP5 drawn back on Carlos. She was obviously one of his team mates. "Barry!" He said. Barry looked just as baffled. "Carlos! I'd heard you were...what are you doing here? It's ok Yoko. You can relax that thing."

Miguel revealed himself and said, "I couldn't agree more!" He aimed his Rifle at her. She turned to him and aimed but Carlos tried to get Miguel to calm down and Barry did the same with his SOU agent. "I told you, I know this guy, Suzuki put the damn gun down!" She shook her head saying, "Even if you know him, the other man is an insurgent. He killed a lot of the soldier we ran into. He's with the guerrillas."

Barry put his hand on her barrel pushing it down. "Be that as it may, this is an old friend and he's one of us. Which leads me to my next question that I need to repeat. Carlos, what are you doing here and why are you with this guy?" Carlos told him, "It's okay, Barry. He's one of the good guys. He helped your compa, Redfield out of a sticky patch."

Barry relaxed and reluctantly both Miguel and Suzuki put their weapons down. "Listen, Carlos, I have something very important to tell you. Something HQ may not have let you in on yet. We have..." Miguel interrupted saying, "I think I might know where this is going..."

Barry rolled his eyes but patiently asked, "Well do you want to tell him the bad news or should I?" Miguel looked to Barry then said, "You know him better and he seems to be your friends so maybe you should,"

Carlos chuckled and said, "What's the matter, Miguel? Thought we were friends, man! I mean come on, the stars and shining and the dead are walking, lighten up!" Barry looked at him with a serious look on his face. Both Barry and Carlos were by nature, men who loved to laugh but today was not a day for that as far as Burton was concerned. "Carlos...there's a chance the president might want to neutralize this place the same way Raccoon City was. We have less than forty eight hours to clean this place up or they will. They're even trying to decide if it would be too many casualties if they level the Big Apple too."

Carlos had seen a lot and heard a lot in his day. He had been through more shit in his life than Chris, Jill or Barry had ever been through combined because he had been fighting long before Raccoon City. Still, this bit of bad news had taken him by surprise. "What?! Are you kidding me? There's going to be millions of civilians no matter how bad the infection has gotten! What's the point of the US military or even us if they're just going to keep on blowing up every place with an infection before we can even save it?"

Barry tried to calm the younger man down. "Now just hold on a second, kid. It aint a sure thing we still have time. Thirty hours to be exact. Granted, HQ didn't even tell us we only had forty eight hours left until a few had already gone by and we just got here not too long ago couldn't have been more than an hour ago! Anyway, now that we know how much time we have left, we can pick up the pace."

Carlos looked at the gunfire in the distance and then back at Barry. "I think we can pull this off but I need you to try to call off your dogs, Barry. Talk to your unit! We don't need special ops crawling up our ass. I mean, we aren't the ones responsible for this. Not that I can see. I've infiltrated this group for a while now I would have found something if the ALF was in on the outbreak."

Barry nodded. "Yeah, I can try. I can make sure people know that the group didn't do it as far as you two are concerned but just remember you're still undercover. I can talk to my team mates but I can't promise anything about HQ listening to me. As far as they're concerned yo're terrorists and even if you don't participate in bio terrorism, you are still considered terrorists by the United States government. We aren't trying to get involved in a domestic dispute but it is a thin line between the two."

Miguel told him, "Well I ant a terrorist. I saved a couple of your BSAA agents. They patched me up and I returned the favor. This virus, shit? I don't know when it started. It seems like it just sprouted up out of nowhere. We don't know if it happened before or in the middle of the fighting At least I don't really are just trying to get liberation movements to sprout up all over the so called New World. We're trying to do right by our fellow man though. We fed people and housed them whether they were Indigenous or not. We just don't want to be screwed around anymore. We want to control our own land. Not be under European capitalism. We give the poor a voice when they don't have it."

Barry held up a hand saying, "Spare me the revolutionary crap, okay? I'll try and relay what you told me to HQ. In the meantime we need to get rid of all these damned creatures. You take care, okay? And if you need to get a hold of me, here is my radio frequency."

Before they parted ways, Carlos walked up to Barry and whispered to him. As Barry listened he looked at him and asked, "Are you sure about that?" Carlos nodded. He looked troubled but went on his way.

They parted ways and Miguel asked him, "What did you tell him?"Carlos lied saying, "Nothing," Miguel didn't believe him. "Those are a lot of words for nothing, Carlos," Carlos didn't say anything so Miguel said, "If it was about that CIA agent you nailed on the chopper, I heard everything he said to you. You're lucky I speak English but the other don't or Pedro would have had you killed. I think he still doesn't believe you though. He suspects you so right now I'm the best friend you've got. He might even suspect me since I'm a somewhat recent arrival myself."

He then asked him, "Why don't you break down the whole history of this virus for me? Not just here but going way back to where it all began. I mean I know a little but can you tell me from your experience what's happened with it all?"

Carlos looked him up and narrowed his eyes at him. "You're still a young guy. Why should I trust you with it? Better yet why do I need to explain myself to you?" Miguel rolled his eyes. "That's a bit of a double standard, don't ya think?You were my age when you first got in La Causa. Or was that bullshit too? You need me. I maybe new here but if Pedro trusts one of us more i's me. I can vouch for you to the ALF and you can do that for me to the BSAA. Do we have a deal?"

Carlos thought a moment. It did not take him long to decide. It was not one of those decisions that needed a lot of pondering. He answered him, "Yeah we got a deal for now. But just so you know, it wasn't bullshit. I was a Guerrilla. I am a Wayuu warrior and I did fight against Javier Hidalgo and the government. I'm just...it's different now. These B.O.W's could destroy the world you know?"

He then added, "Despite what you may think of me, of us, Me working for a U.N. backed group and all, I don't want to see this place get destroyed. I do want to save what civilians we can without having to have them send a missile. See, the US government has used weapons of mass destruction before. I'm sure you knew that. Back in 45 but that was Japan. The kind of bombs we have now and especially in a town in a tiny island like Puerto Rico, it might not just level the city but the entire island, hermano. I don't want to let that happen. I won't let that happen."

Miguel and he shook hands. "I know."

As they saw the two BSAA agents regroup with their team, Miguel asked Carlos, "Yo, could I see your cans really quick?" He handed him his binoculars and said, "Why?" Miguel looked through them at a BSAA agent, a female. "Well well. It's a small world. Especially when it comes to Puerto Rico. That there is my older sister. She ran away from home and I aint seen her since. Mami and papi will box her ears when they hear about this! Well, Carlos I guess we both have BSAA agents we want to look out for."

Miguel added, "I on't know if we have the same belief regarding God but I think you believe as well as I do. He brought us all here for the same reason. She maybe well trained but I gotta make sure my sister survives. She's older than me but all the same, it's my brotherly duty. She aint meant to die here. She's gotta go back home to the Bronx. Then our jefita can kill her."

They both laughed at that.

Claire

They discharged rounds at the rogue police officer who had mutated into a B.O.W. Jake let off eights rounds into it's massive frame. It charged at him taking huge swipes but the young mercenary managed to dodge them and from his position rolled over crouching and firing and he proceeded to back up as he did so wanting distance between himself and the beast.

He did not even change facial expressions. Claire had been told about the young man by Sherry in conversations on the phone and skype and she seemed to admire him. Claire could see why she had been impressed. He was not at all losing his cool even as the thing came at him again, Sherry covering with four rounds in the back and two in the back of the head.

The others opened fire too. The thing growled either in anger or pain or maybe both but most likely the first one. "I AM THE LAW HERE!" Shouted Reese. Claire was surprised he was able to still talk. Had there been modifications to the G virus?

Sherry was as calm and collected as Jake except her facial expression, he staring at it as he engaged it like a warrior while she looked worried and was cautious. Randy emptied an entire mag into it's torso. As Claire let off more rounds, spending up another mag, she was glad that she had looted some ammunition from some of the dead bodies. The g virus tyrant attacked two civilians and slashed one of them in half it's talons ripping through all the muscle and tissue and bones and severed the spine.

Another had a slash across the chest and part of the skin in his stomach ripped off. That man, an overweight Italian male fell to the ground screaming. Victor, Angel, and some of the other survivors fired on Reese as well. Victor helped get some of the survivors that were unarmed out of the area and Tashini covered them.

Just then, his talons scratched Officer Kim on the leg. He held his bloody arm crying in pain and staggering back His blood dripped on the platform and it came at him but even still he fired at the man. Jake reloaded and said, "This is no use! Let's get to another terminal! This asshole seems bulletproof!" Sherry backed off and they headed out of there. "The escalators are still working let's try and lose him, there!" She called.

Peter winced in pain but managed to still avoid his fellow officer as he came at him. "You guys...get outta here...I'll keep this guy busy...," Old man Winters replied, "Son, you can't be serious about that! It's suicide!"

Kim told him, "It's...nothing I can't handle. I got worse than this my first day on the job.I'll put this fucker down and catch up with you guys. Now go!"

Claire helped the wounded Randy to his feet. He coughed up blood. "That took a lot out of me. That guy...he's the one you were crazy about? Nice guy. Like to...have a beer with him," He winced in pain. Claire told him, "Just hang in there. We're going to get you some help, okay? Stay with me. We're going to make it, Randy!"

She made it up some stairs and he pulled away insisting he could handle himself. "You sure know how to pick em Claire. I mean that..."

She sighed and asked, "Is this really the time to get into that? You're hurt bad We need to get you some medical help. That's more important than you and me...look Randy you're a nice guy and..." He grunted and said, "Save it. I've heard it all before I don't want to hear it now. If I'm going to die tonight, I'm gonna do it on my terms. Not hearing your rejection speech is one of them.."

She shook her head, "You didn't even let me finish you didn't even know what I was going to say I..." He held his hand up and said, "Save it! So help me, Claire I've got a major goddamn headache and I'll put a bullet in my head if you don't shut up. I need a damn cigarette."

She had never heard him talk this way. She had always thought he was funny yet passive. She said, "Look...when we get out of here...we can try and get to know each other better. Who knows maybe..." He snarled, "I said stop! I said I'd never bring it up again so that means you shouldn't either! Besides you can't...make a promise like that. You don't know that we're getting out of here. Now who's the one dreaming? Isnt that what you told me when i asked you out a long time ago? In your dreams you said."

She had a knot in her stomach. As they walked she shook her head again insisting, "That was when I thought you were a self righteous jerk. I'm sorry! Look, we need to work together to get out of here," He nodded. "Fine but I don't need your help to walk. The people who we help, they might need to rely on me but I don't need to rely on anyone."

Strangely,him saying that was a reminder of what Steve had said in the spotted Mr. Winters firing his Assault Rifle at a group of zombies. He killed three fourths of them wounding the rest. He switched to semi and finished them with head shots. Claire called to him. "Come on! We need to get moving! This platform is too dangerous we need to find another one and lock it down and get these innocent people out of here!"

He shook his head at that. "No miss. I'm going to hold the line. Now I appreciate the help you folks at...Terra Save was it? Yeah, Terra Save gave me but I've got to do my part now too. I'll hold these ugly bastards back here. You all can get them to a safer platform and then I'll catch up with you. I've faced worse than this in my combat days."

Claire scoffed, "You and Officer Kim keep saying things like that but it's going to get you killed!"The man sighed as he reloaded. "Look...I fought for what I thought was right in Korea and then again in Nam. Turns out both wars weren't none of our business and didn't have squat to do with defending this country either. I learned that later than I should have. I killed a lot of young men over there just as scared as I was. Just as oppressed. I got a chance to redeem that now. I can hold back a bunch of cannibals with no souls back while civilians escape. I may not have always done what was right but I'm an old soldier and I need to do that at least."

She closed her eyes, stressed that he would not listen but knew by the look in his eyes he would not listen. She told him, "Okay, fine but you hold them off and then you get out quick and join the rest of us! This is no time for a kamikaze mission. It's my job to save lives. Not save them long enough for them to get killed later."

Winters solemnly said, "Look, I lost my best friend in the Tet offensive. He was with me in Korea too. The medics tried to do what they could but he died. Every real doctor knows that you can't ever really cheat death. You can keep the game going a little bit longer, keep delaying it but in the end, the result is always the same."

More zombies were coming so her and Randy headed to another platform. She spotted Steve up ahead and called out to him. He looked back at her and said, "I told you stay away, Claire!" He sped off past the big American flag in the center. She went past it chasing after him. "Wait, Steve! Let me help you!" Randy groaned as he tried to ignore the pain but followed behind.

He said, "Did you not here a word Winters said? You're like a school girl with a crush!" They spotted him again. He stayed away from her but warned, "I don't want to hurt you, Claire. Despite everything that's happened, I really don't. But you need to stay away from me!"

She walked closer to him saying, "Steve, whatever Umbrella did to you, whatever they told you was a lie!I would never do anything to hurt you and I had no knowledge of anything happening to your mom until you told me about it. Don't you remember what we went through?"

Steve closed his eyes, seeming to be in pain. He held his head crying out like he had a massive headache or a concussion and dropped to his knees with a whimper. Claire tried to be cautious but approached him slowly, still concerned for him. As he whimpered, he sounded almost like he ha that first night after he had killed his own father. For a moment, as her heart pounded away, she thought she might have found the old Steve back. The one not corrupted by the world and by Wesker.

She put a hand on his shoulder softly saying his name, and he turned around swinging on her. This caught her off guard and she slid back. She cried out from surprise more than pain. He ran after her grabbing her by the throat and hoisted her to her feet. "You don't know me at all! You're causing these memories to come back!"

She gave him a kick to the chest and freed herself but she could see in his eyes that he wasn't about to give up that easily. Several shots rang out and a few hit him in the back. The rest he dodged. She rolled away and saw that Randy was firing at him. Steven dodged every round and he got in front of him easily disarming the scrawny man with a punch. His gun slid away. Randy braced himself for another punch but could not possibly ready himself for the blows he was going to take.

He hit him in the side, in the rib cage, and in the face. He moved around him like a phantom and he knocked the man back several feet. As he flew back Steve run with him and punched him in the stomach hard. The guy coughed up more blood. Claire fired a shot hitting Steve in the back. She fired again hitting him in the chest. "Stop it, Steve! This isn't who you are! Stop attacking me! You and I saved each other!"

Steve prepared to charge at the brunette but Randy managed to grab his foot causing the super human man to trip and fall hard. He got to his feet in annoyance and grabbed the man by the throat in a quick burst of speed and told him ,"You're gonna be begging me to kill you once I finish with you."

He punched him in the stomach and Randy grunted but he made a feeble attempt at swinging back on him. He growled and swung again hitting Steve in the side of the face. He drove his knee into his gut and punched him with three quick blows to the face. Blood dripped from his lip and his already bleeding nose. Randy was in a lot of pain. Claire discharged four more rounds but Steve easily avoided them. He picked up Randy's gun and chucked it at her at high speed. She just barely managed to drop to the ground to avoid it.

He gave Randy a kick in the sides in the left rib cage. He then gave him an even harder kick that lifted him off the ground about ten feet in the air. He was struggling for breath and still coughing blood. Steve grabbed the blonde haired man by the hair. "It's time for you o say goodbye, asshole. The new world we're going to create isn't fit for soft touches like you."

He surprised Steve by coming back swinging a knife at him. He cut him a bit on the neck and at the back of his sweater but otherwise missed him. He swung again as he had tried to get Steve's spinal cord from the back of his neck. He swung at his throat this time but Steve grabbed his arm. He took the knife from his hands and threw it aside. Randy coughed but smiled saying "I got you...son of a bitch..."

Steve stomped on his chest and yelled "AND I GOT YOU WORSE! You think this is a game?!" He kicked him again in the same manner. As Randy was on all fours, Steve gave him a hard boot to the face sending him flying back thirty feet and he hit the ground hard. Claire fired at him again and he dodged every round and came around behind her. She predicted it and fired at his face but he grabbed the gun as it went off and the round went wild.

She kicked him in the stomach to free up her grip on the gun and to her own surprise it worked. She pointed the gun in his face, hesitating only a second. Steve could have easily killed her then and there no matter what but his eyes which were the same color they had been when he transformed, flashed back to green. He blinked and stepped back. Something was wrong with him. He had the same reaction again as he had before.

She ran back to Randy to make sure he was okay. Fresh blood stained his chin. He grabbed her hand and she said, "Just stay with me Randy. We're going to get you help. Just keep fighting. I'm right here..." He had a light smirk on his face. "Claire...I have something...to tell you..."

"Just save your strength, Randy. Don't try and talk. You're going to tell me later!" She suspected she might know what it was. She didn't want to hear a dying man tell her this twice in a lifetime but to her surprise it wasn't that. "That device...your brother...mentioned...?" She leaned in closer. "He has one...just...not where you...thought. It's on the back of his...neck. He had the kind of hooded sweater that covered it but I cut him...with my pocket knife...I saw it. Big...and red...you can save him after all, Claire...you just need to...get that off of him. Thats how...they're con..." He coughed violently.

Claire tried to hold him as he did to give him some comfort. When he finally did stop coughing he looked at her through blood shot and glassy eyes. "I just...hope..he can protect you...better than he can...just make sure...he hasn't changed...God knows what years under Wesker's wing...will do to a man..."

He urged her, "I'll be right here...not like I'm going anywhere...i hope you were right about your instincts about this guy...go help him...now while he's confused..."

She did as Randy asked but promised, "I'm coming back for you. I promise!" She walked toward Steve, reloading and she fired. She needed to catch him off guard. She fired five shots at him there hitting him in the stomach and two in the left arm. He snapped out of it and she tried to get around to the back of his neck. She found exactly what Randy was talking pulled on it and tried to get it off but it was stuck on there good.

She got her own combat knife out almost forgetting she had it. She tried to cut it off of him. He resisted driving an elbow into he stomach. He grabbed her and choke slammed her to the ground. If he'd done that just a bit more hard, she figured he'd have broken her groaned in pain, her back in pain. Luckily he had not crippled her. She got off the cold ground and he rammed into her. Her knife slid away from her. She winced but rolled away trying to be as tough as she could.

Gotta stick it out. I know I can do this! Sh thought as she recovered the knife. He jumped after her trying to kill her with his own knife. He jumped up and brought his knife down with she just barely dodging. She managed to get her knife in her left hand and her gun in the other. She fired and hacked at punched her in the face and got behind her. Grabbing her by the ponytail, he knocked the gun from her hands. She slashed at him, however and left a gash across his chest.

She went around him and gave him a kick. It only dropped him to his knees due to surprise and not because it was strong enough. Several rounds went off and hit him in the chest. She looked and saw Jessica Sharawat, the BSAA agent firing at him. She unstrapped a weapon from her shoulder and dropped it yelling, "Use this! I've got to get back with the others!"

She ran off after dropping a grenade launcher. Claire ran up to retrieve it. She grabbed it, glad she had gotten to it in time. Steve sped up to her and growled, "Where do you think you're going?" He took several more rounds in the back but this time from a handgun. By some miracle, the badly wounded Randy had managed to get his gun back. Even from the floor, and as he was missing half his shots, both due to Steve's speed and his lack of being able to aim well from where he was, he had managed to buy her some time.

Claire checked the ammunition for it. To her luck, they were electric rounds. She closed it up and got ready for a shot. Steve took the gun from Randy and said, "Enough with the doctor!" He took his gun apart piece by piece this time and lifted him up by his throat. He began to strangle him. Claire yelled "Steve!" He looked at her and then threw the Terra Save worker at a pillar. Randy, whose head was now bleeding yelled, "Claire...do it...do it now!"

She fired and Steve managed to dodge the first one but she predicted where he was going to be and readied another shot from the M79. She fired and hit right where he went and it caught him in the electrical surge. He cried out in pain from it. She fired one more just to be sure and Steve dropped to all fours. Randy hollered, "Now...! Now's your chance!"

She ran up to Steve, retrieving the knife and she hit him in the back with the grenade launcher and she began to try to cut the thing from him. She had to be careful to cut the device while trying not to damage the skin. She also worried that though he was superhuman, if she was not careful, a cut to the back of the neck could cripple or kill him. It connected with his head. She pulled with all her strength and cut. Finally it did peel off leaving some damage on the skin but it at least had finally came off of him.

He cried out in pain but then collapsed. She ran over to Randy, a smile crossing her face saying, "We did it! Thanks to you!" She froze when she saw he was not moving. He was not breathing either. She checked his pulse. He had none. She put him on his back rolling him off his side and began to apply CPR. "Come on! Randy, come back to me! Listen to the sound of my voice! Damn it come on!"

She tried to restore the broken man for five minutes before she knew it had been to long. He had died of a brain hemorrhage. She needed a minute to herself.

Meanwhile, Winters was still surrounded by zombies on all sides. He was not sure if it had been ten minutes or twenty since he had been holding them back but it was just like the days when he had Charlies crawling up his ass. He unloaded another magazine on them. He knew he didn't have long. He'd been bitten. He'd taken one on the arm. Still, he knew he could hold back the hordes a bit longer. He planned on letting them finish him off so that he would not become a zombie. He knew several of them had weapons.

Back on the platform, Claire brushed a tear from her eye. Steve awoke and sat up in pain. She went over to him and was cautious, knowing to not assume anything. His eyes had gone from gold to back to green like they were supposed to be. "Claire...I remember everything now..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I couldn't control anything I was doing. I've tried to fight it. Today just like I have for years. I knew I'd see you again but I hoped I wouldn't the way I am. All this time, I thought I was just having bad dreams but it was my sub conscious trying to tell me what really happened."

He had a look in his eyes like he might cry. She walked up to him and hugged him, embracing him like she had wanted to for so many years. "It's okay. It's not your fault. I knew you were still there, the real Steve, deep down. I thought I'd never see you again."

He hugged her back but shook his head in disgust. "I killed your friend...I've done so many things I never wanted to. All because of that asshole, Albert. And his brother Alex. They've kept that thing on me so long. My sub conscious was the real me but whatever that thing made me, it filled my mind with thoughts that weren't even mine."

He broke down sobbing. She held him, and just like that he was just like the old Steve. She smiled feeling the crew cut he now had which had darkened his red hair to a more auburn color. "Your hair!" She said with a light chuckle. "I know...I don't look the same and I haven't been the same for years. But...I've got to make up for lost time. Listen, Claire...you know I didn't mean what I was saying, right? I know you had nothing to do with my mother dying. There was no way you could have known."

He paused then continued saying, "It's not like you pulled the trigger. Umbrella was careless. They shot her with a .50 Machine Gun trying to gun you down. They killed seven of their own employees gunning for you. There was nothing you can do. As for my dad, I love him and I miss him but I'm glad I killed him. I'm still mad at him some days but even if I didn't want to shoot him, I'm glad I killed him because there would be no point in two people becoming infected."

She stood up and so did he. She nodded. "I know you didn't mean it, Steve. It just shows what a sick and twisted mind Wesker had. Listen, since you're back to normal, would you mind helping me out? We have to stop Umbrella. There's supposed to be a secret lab around here somewhere where they're unleashing these things."

Steve nodded but said, "Yeah I will but Claire, I have to do something first. It's a long story," Running off as usual... She smiled saying, "You haven't changed, Steve," He sheepishly shook his head but said, "Well...I won't run off again after this. I just have something I need to do. I'll find you like you found me. But for now..." He kissed her, taking her off guard. Her eyes widened as their lips connected. She had wanted to do this, and she had spent many nights wishing she'd kissed him before if she'd known he was going to die, she would have kissed him.

She closed her eyes as their mouths became one. The station was cold and paired with what she had on, it was colder but his hand touched her bare tummy gently rubbing it. He was warm and it felt good. She put her arms around him. Finally after about thirty seconds, the kiss parted. "I wanted to tell you..." She said. "That night...when you told me you loved me...I wanted to say it back to you...I still do. I've loved you ever since that night.."

He kissed her again and he touched her face with his hand, cupping her face as he kissed her, their tongues briefly wrestling like lovers embracing after not seeing each other in so long. He parted lips with her and said, "I'll come back for you, Claire and I promise I won't take so long this time."

With that, he sped away. Her heart was pounding just like it had when she was scared but this time it was feeling a different way. As though the tears that had been her broken heart had been healed. Her broken heart blossomed with new life. I got my knight in shining armor back...

She ran to meet with the others as it was the best she could do for now. She spotted Winters having killed more zombies. He took down six zombies and killed a seventh as his magazine went dry by hitting it over the head with the Rifle and bringing his boot down on it's head as it fell down. He dropped his weapon and looked at her saying, "Out of ammo."

She told him, "Mr. Winters, come on! We gotta move now. You've held them back enough," He shook his head showing her he had been bitten. "I appreciate the concern child, but I'm going to have to say no. Aint got no ammo left and not much time either. All's I got is these two fists God gave me. Now get out of here!"

He charged at the new pack of zombies, punching one of them in the jaw. Claire considered helping him but she knew he was infected. She had felt so good having saved Steve but now she felt helpless as she watched the elderly man throw blows at zombies. She felt herself cry out, "No!" As a zombie with a fire ax a zombie who had once been a firemen, cut the man down with a chop to the back. Winters died in pain but it did not take him long to die. He seemed relieved. Claire was still angry that it had happened.

She fired another round from the Grenade Launcher and it zapped them. Three of them were killed including the fireman. She ran the opposite direction to get away from them. She headed east looking for a different platform. Just then, she spotted an obese zombie coming at her. She aimed at it knowing she'd need to shoot it as it otherwise blocked her path.

It jumped up and caused the ground to shake and she fell over. It wobbled toward her, preparing to body slam her. Just then, it howled as a shotgun blast sounded of. Then another one, and then one more. It then died as an incendiary grenade was thrown at it, engulfing it's fat body in flames. It fell dead covered in fire. Claire jumped above the flames and it's body to see her rescuer. She aimed her M79 and the person had a shotgun aimed back at her.

It was a brunette woman. She had grayish blue eyes. "Who are you?" Claire asked. The woman looked at her sizing her up saying, "You first."

She sighed saying, Claire Redfield. Im with Terra Save.," The woman lowered the shotgun and said, "I think I met your brother before. I'm Helena Harper."

The two women shook hands. Claire had heard her name before. "Yeah, he said you worked with Leon. Anyway, I don't mean to be rude, Helena but I've got to get moving. I think I might know what caused all of these things. The source of it I mean. I'm going to need to go and stop more B.O.W's from being made. As bad as this city's gotten, it can still be worse."

Helena asked, "Would it happen to be the same Neo Umbrella base I'm headed to now? A lot of White Umbrella's old employees got name changes fake ID's on the black market and were able to find employment at one of Umbrella's dummy corporations. For years, this place wasn't harboring Bio Weapons and it hadn't been used by Umbrella since their fall and surprisingly nobody found out it had been a front for of Umbrella's fronts were found out and shut down but this one is still around."

Helena offered, "I haven't been able to locate my partner on my own mission which was to find Alex Wesker. We believe he's at large in the city. If you really want to get to the bottom of this, why don't you tag along with me? I'm on my way there now."

Claire thought about it. While Steve and his super human strength was a greater ally, and it would be good to have somebody with his abilities working for the good guys, she had to admit that it would be easier if she had somebody else backing her up. "Why not. I'll help you but first I need to do something for an old friend."

She intended to go and put Randy's body in one of the broken down trains that had not worked since the city had become infected. It may not prevent him from being a meal for the infected but at least there was a chance. She was not going to leave him to be road kill.

Sherry

She wished she had a bigger gun as they faced the thing. It was still coming after them even after hail after hail of bullets. Then she remembered she did still have that M-16 that the National Guard soldier had given her. She equipped it and aimed for the eye on its shoulder. She let off fourteen rounds on it. It shrieked in pain. Jake had found some shotgun shells and was loading them up. He fired a shot and hit it in the same place Sherry had. He pumped and fired the Spas 12 again but this time aimed for the other side of its torso as well as the head.

He kept firing and yelled, "This asshole just doesn't know when to give up! He's followed us ever since we tried to lose him! You think he might also be attracted to whatever trace of the virus you have left in you?" He asked. Sherry attempted to shred its head with the last of her magazine but said, "I don't know and I'm pretty sure I don't want to! The last time I faced one of these it tried to breed with me!"

Jake cringed saying, "Sorry I asked!" He tried to roll away but the claws raked him on the right side of his back hear the shoulder. He cried out as he was knocked down. Sherry reloaded and this time, reloaded a drum mag which had 100 rounds. She had used a lot of her ammo she had found on dead soldiers so far but she intended to be more careful with her ammo supply as she had only what was in this mag and one thirty round magazine left. She let off twenty rounds at the thing.

"I am authorized to use deadly force to maintain order!" Shouted Reese in a demon like legion voice. He slashed Sherry several times in the side. He then grabbed her with his non mutated arm and was about to bring his claw down on her. Jake kicked the thing from behind, freeing her. He fired again opening the bullet wounds even deeper. He reloaded but he only had seven more rounds to use.

He hit it with the side of the shotgun. "Jesus! Didn't that damn cop try to hold him off? What the fuck happened to that?!" Kevin Grant fired his weapon and so did Jessica as she rejoined the group trying to fall back to the next terminal. Agent Grant asked, "Where were you?" She shook her head at him, "I'll explain later. Let's just take this freak down!"

"REESE!" An angry man roared. As Sherry healed, keeping a distance from the G virus monster, she spotted the same cop who had accompanied Claire, Officer Peter Kim. His whole uniform was stained in blood and his left arm was dripping onto the floor. He fired at the former bicycle cop with one hand. "Is this what you joined the force for? To become a terrorist? To scare people and hurt them?! Well I didn't and I'm not letting you either!"

The tyrant, still able to talk for some reason growled, "You're a spineless coward, Peter! You never had the guts to do what I would and could! Yet you are the one who got to be a beat cop! That just show you are not fit to be law enforcement! You will disperse or die!"

It charged at him. It slashed the man's already wounded and useless arm almost entirely severing it. It barely held on. The thing roared. Peter had a single grenade which he had taken from a dead soldier before entering Grand Central Station. "You and I...? We're retiring early..."

Just as Reese impaled the officer with his talons, he shoved the frag into his screaming mouth. The explosion was deafening and kicked up debris. Some of it hit Sherry and wounded her. Jake ran up to her and used a green herb on her. "Sherry, you okay?" She nodded, the green herb speeding her healing along.

Th G Virus monster had fallen. Officer Kim had what was left of his tattered arm blown off. Grant looked at the dead body of the man and shook his head in disbelief. "Shit. He as one of the good ones. There's been too much killing for one day."

Sherry answered him. "I'm okay. Are you? Jake, you're hurt!" He looked at the wounds he had as well as the one he couldn't get to. "I've had worse, Sherry. Really, it's fine."

She shook her head. "No it isn't. Come with me. Into the ladies room," Jake chuckled and said, "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be in there. I don't have to be from America to know that much," She looked at him, her piercing blue eyes staring into his and she asked, "Since when does a rebel like you care what the rules are, Jake?"

He followed her but made a tsk tsk noise. "You got a smart mouth on you, super girl," She took off his jacket and made him take off his shirt. He sarcastically asked, "What, no music for this strip tease?"She smiled without letting him see it and said, "Very funny."

She used a first aid spray on his wounds and luckily there was a spare medical kit on the wall in case of emergencies. She patched up his wounds, after spraying his bandaged gauze down with the disinfectant first aid spray. He got goosebumps from her touch. "Jake," She began. "Can I ask you something?"

He didn't see why not. "Sure, go ahead."

She was hesitant but decided to ask anyway. "Are you sure that your mother...died in 2010? I mean...how do we know the guy calling you on the phone isn't just saying that to get under your skin?" Jake told her, "He's Alex Wesker. The new head of the Family. I guess I don't know for sure but I put two and two together. And yeah, I'm sure. Now granted the guy could just be trying to get me more pissed at Redfield but there's no way to know for sure that my father would have paid for my mother to have surgery if he'd known about me. Then again, I don't know that he wouldn't have helped either. I just don't know what to think at this point."

Just them, his cell rang. Sherry was surprised he still got reception. "You're right, Sherry. He could just be trying to piss me off. I shouldn't listen to him," He took his cell phone and stomped it, causing it to spark as it broke into pieces. As she let him put his clothes back on she asked, "Don't you think that was a little bit crazy, Jake?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to..." Her PDA went off. She answered it. "Who is this? Is this Hunnigan?" It was the same disguised voice. "Hello, Ms. Birkin. I'd like to speak to Jacob Muller please. Unless of course you can already here me. That wasn't very nice of you to break your phone but then, you're hurting you, not me!"

Jake snarled demanding, "What do you want from me, asshole? What's the meaning of having that freak in the mask attack the station and kill innocent people? Why did you do that? You say Ill have answers? Well I want answers now!"

Alex calmly said, "Now do you understand how fragile the human race is? Now do you see there is a good chance you will not be able to save them? Look how many died just from me sending a real Wesker to do the job? That plus at least half of those survivors got either cut down, turned or infected themselves. Do you see the pattern now, Jake? Only a handful of humans truly matter! All of these people were killed because they were insignificant. They were of no use to the world!"

Sherry shouted, "Oh, what and you are? You're just a terrorist with delusions! You're no better than your brother!" Alex chuckled. "You know that hurts, Sherry. When they killed your father, I was never in favor of it! William was a remarkable man. He could have helped transform the new world but his life was cut short by Umbrella. It just goes to show what they'd have done to me had I tried to leave so soon. Luckily, i was young enough that this wasn't a factor. I wouldn't end up leaving them for another eight years."

Sherry scoffed, "That was your brother who had a hand in my fathers death! After years of pretending to be his friend, he had assassins gun him down and then he injected himself with all he had left. So that's also what your brother did. How can you justify that, let alone the thousands of other deaths he caused?"

Alex was frank. "Albert was foolish at that time. He thought he was being a good 'son' to Spencer. So he had your father killed. He finally did learn that a decrepit old man like Spencer could never be the God this world needs and that was after I realized this sooner. Now, then. Jake, have you learned your lesson? Have you learned that humans are weak by nature? Do you finally see that they can't be relied on?"

Jake gritted his teeth. "What I've learned, is my father was an asshole and so are you! I'm not him and he's not me! He never even knew about me! I owe him nothing!" Alex just said, "In due time you will learn the truth. Your brother, Grim he is one of us through his actions but not through hereditary legacy. You are. You're a survivor. You survived Edonia and China. You are a fighter, Jacob. Do not fight for the side that will lose. I am keeping a close watch on you. I need you to survive the next two days in this city but you must not leave. I have a surprise for you. I know you have been without answers as to who I am and what I am trying to do but things will make sense when it's time."

With that Alex was gone just as suddenly as he had come. Jake gritted his teeth again and growled in anger. "I'm getting real tired of that guy not answering questions. And then he hacks into your PDA? Who the hell does he think he is?"

Sherry thought a moment. "Oh God, Jake! I just realized, he may have been able o hack into it somehow or access it because he's supposed to be the new head of the Family right? Well whether we like it or not they've got guys inside of the DSO even now. They could have total control! I wonder if the BSAA are having the same problem?"

Jake looked at her PDA and then back into her blue eyes. "Well, The Family has been around since at least the 19th century. I'd heard stories about them when I was a kid. Even at the height of their influence, Umbrella was never as much of a problem as they were. I mean they staged revolutions, backed up dictators, and assassinations all over the world. umbrella was rich and they had research facilities all over the world but a lot of the B.O.W. projects they had never got started in most of the places they were because they were already in enough heat for the infections in Raccoon and Antarctica."

He paced in the bathroom and then said, "Look, it's one thing if multi billion dollar companies have B.O.W's and even worse when disgruntled employees sell them on the black market to rogue armies but if The Family is taking the reins now and seizing whatever assets Umbrella and Neo Umbrella has left, it could be worse. Cause now Neo Umbrella is just a bunch of underground terrorists that are isolated. The Family's resources are almost endless."

She looked at him, feeling a lump in her throat. "What do you mean? What are you trying to tell me?" As she asked him this she wondered how much of all this mess her own parents had a hand in besides the infection in Raccoon City. Had there been more instances she had never heard of? More cover ups? More deaths?"

He sighed and said, "If they can hack into your PDA or even access it at all, that means your superiors cannot be trusted. You work for the DSO, the government. The Family has always been in control of the United States and the Western world. That means they have influence even over the CIA, the army, every intelligence agency there is."

Sherry was not sure what to say. So she said the only thing she could think of just as she had in China. "We're not the bad guys, Jake..." He stopped her saying, "No...you're not the bad guy. But the people you work for we can't be sure about. The important thing is that no matter what, you know what's right from wrong even if they don't. I always liked that about you, super girl. A good woman in a bad world."

She felt her face blush. She knew she would never shake that nickname but she didn't mind. She said, "Well...what can we do? I know there are others in the DSO that are good people! They can't all be in on this, Jake. Hunnigan..." He once again cut in saying, "Look she seemed like a nice enough lady but re,member your friend Leon and how they blamed him for the president's death? Not only that but she told us where to go to meet Simmons even though he was part of the infection that happened in Tall Oaks. She could have been in league with him the whole time!"

Sherry didn't want to believe that. It couldn't be true there was just no way. Could there...? She said, "Let's not jump to conclusions. Now come on. We can still help those people. Wait...I wonder if Claire is okay...?" He didn't know how to answer that. "I don't know. It may not help and you may not see me as the type that would be like this but...maybe you should pray for her? And that Grim asshole?" She corrected Jake, "Steve."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I mean I'm not especially religious but I do believe in a higher power. I always have. Which makes the idea that my father or this asshole Alex wanted to be a God pretty fucking insane. Anyway, do you want to um..pray with me?" She didn't know how to respond so he took her hand and said, "I know it sounds corny. Just for a minute."

So she did. She closed her eye and prayed with him. Whoever you are out there, if you're listening...please...let us be ale to stop this from going global. And let us survive...

He got himself ready and said, "Thanks for patching me up, Sherry. I mean that. If I'd had somebody like you along with me in a lot of my days as a soldier of fortune it would have made my job a lot easier."

She smiled and said, "You're just saying that! But thank you, Jake...that means a lot. Maybe I..." Sghe trailed off not sure if it would be weird to say or not. "He asked, "What is it? You can tell me," She shook her head. "It's not important," He told her, "Sherry we've been friends a couple months now. Actually, I'd say given all that we went through in Edonia and China, meeting up again after six months plus the time between Lanshiang and now I'd say we've known each other almost a year now. You can tell me."

This was a side of him she hadn't really seen before. It was like the humanity was finally showing. He was not the arrogant jerk she'd thought he was when she first met him. Far from it. And it was true, they had known each other a long time and they were friends. Considering that people had been trying to kill them both in Edonia and China that had made him the only friend she'd had for miles in every direction, with maybe the exception of Leon and possibly Chris.

But then they weren't with her the entire time. Jake had been there the most. It was safe to say since the two of them had kissed, he might even be more than a friend. No...he was. He was still her friend but that was not all he was. Suddenly now she couldn't imagine her life without him in it at this point. She took a deep breath and then said, "I...wish you'd been with me. Back in Raccoon. I know you're a lot younger and you would have been six years old. But...I don't know. Maybe it's just a thought. I mean if I'd known who you were gonna be at this age, it would have been nice knowing you before you went through all the things you did."

He smirked and said, "Me too, super girl. I would have had your back still. he important thing is, we're here with each other now, right? And we're not gonna leave each other's side, right?" He held his hand out. She smiled and took his hand, saying, "I wouldn't dream of it. Come on, super boy."

He chuckled but teasingly poked her in the ribs saying, "Doesn't have the same ring to it."

Chris

For whatever reason, he was back on the helicopter overlooking the volcano. Wesker was staring at him, ,e and Sheva had just fired their rockets and he was trying to pull the chopper down. He looked and saw that the helicopter was completely still. The same was so for Jill, Sheva and Josh. Not even his rockets were moving. What was going on? Wesker, however could and he looked at him, moving his head slightly to the side.

Chris could move too but what was this? Why was the rest of the world standing still? Wesker, even his mutated tyrant form said, "What's the matter, Chris? Cat got your tongue? After four years, not even so much as a 'Hello' for your old Captain?"

He felt his heart beating almost in his throat as he stared at the man and heard him speak. "This isn't possible. You're dead. I killed you! We finished you off for good!" Wesker sneered. "Did you, now? That seems quite irrelevant seeing as we're talking right now, isn't it? Perhaps you're dead, Chris. Or on the brink of death. This is your hell. Here with me. What would be your hell is going to be my heaven. I've looked forward to this for four long years, Chris!"

Chris was scared now. Why weren't the damn rockets moving? "This isn't possible. This is only a dream. When i wake up, everything will be all right!" Albert laughed loudly above the sound of the raging volcano, the only other thing he could hear. "You don't know that, Chris. I implore you! Take out your combat knife and cut yourself. Merely pinching will not do. Why not take every extra measure?"

Chris set the launcher down as it was clearly not working and neither was the helicopter because for whatever reason, time and space had frozen in whatever hellish reality this was. He cut himself as he removed the knife. Sure enough he bled. This gave him chills. "Touch your partner, Chris. She is no mirage. I can assure you this is no dream."

He reached out to touch Jill who was still in her huddled position after she'd given them both the launchers to use. He touched her arm. It was warm. He touched her face. Her skin felt very real. It was warm and life like. What the hell was going on here? He knew it was crossing the line but he knew that if this was really Jill, she would snap out of it and slap him. He felt her breasts, her soft luscious left breast. He ran his hand along the scar. They were real. It was real and she was real.

Her exposed chest with the scar was still warm as he touched it. Albert cackled, "Ahhhhh so there we get to the root of your primal human desire...I must say I don't blame you. I indulged in her myself. You may think you have killed me but no matter what you do, I had her in ways that you can't imagine. She wasn't in a dormant comatose state the whole time, Chris."

Chris snarled, "You're a liar, Wesker. You're just trying to get inside my head! None of this real!" Wesker had an evil grin across his deformed face. "Do you really believe that? If this is a mere nightmare as you say, then why can't you snap out of it? Wake up? You are dead Chris. And you are in my world now. I control things here as I would have if you had not foiled my plans. Do you honestly believe, in all that time Jill was with me, carrying out assassinations of my behalf, we were never alone together?"

He shook his head. "You're just trying to play with my mind, Wesker. It isn't going to work. I remember how this story ends. We killed you and flew out of there. That's all there is to it. You're dead and gone."

Wesker said to him, "That was how you killed me, yes, I admit but now you are in my world. For all you know, I am not only a ghost of your past but also a God, after all. Perhaps I traveled back in time and have altered reality to my own desire? Perhaps, you and your friends did not get away. Perhaps, I have powers beyond anything you can imagine. This could be the beginning of the end and in my world you see, your rockets don't work."

Chris didn't know what was happening. Am I really dead? He just told Wesker, "You're no God. I don't even believe in God. I haven't in years!" Wesker sneered saying, "I am the God of this reality. Watch what I can do."

He caused his tentacles and grabbed Chris pulling him from the helicopter. He cried out in shock as he did. Wesker tossed him onto the little remaining ground there was. He then did the same to remove Jill. She did not protest in the same way as Chris did. She did not protest at all. "Watch this, Chris. I can make it all come back."

He used his tentacles to turn the rockets around so that they were pointing away from Wesker. His eyes flashed red a moment like a light. The rockets soared off into the sky. He had unfrozen time. He grabbed the chopper again just as he had before and now Sheva and Josh were screaming. Jill was groggy on the ground next to him. "Jill..." Chris started to say. She looked at him and said his name back, in terror. "What's going on Chris...? I thought we..."

Before she could finish that sentence, Wesker brought the helicopter crashing down into the lava below. Chris got up and yelled, "Sheva! No!" He turned to Wesker angry but weaponless. "Why did you do that?!" Wesker hissed, "My world my revenge, Chris. Besides, that new girl was not much of a challenge. She just doesn't have the history with me that you two that those two are out of the way, I have you both where I want you."

Wesker turned to Jill and said, "Now, as I was telling Chris here...we certainly had some interesting times you and I didn't we, Jill?" She looked down at the ground but then charged at him. Chris realized she might have a shot as she'd had new abilities he'd never seen in her when she had fought him and Sheva. She was easily swept aside by Wesker. He ripped her battle suit open and held her down. He pointed to some of the bruises on her back. He also showed Chris some of the major bruises he'd used on her thighs as he tore her suit open.

Wesker laughed and bellowed, "I told you, Chris. I sampled your nubile partner. Again...and again... "He screamed, "You son of a bitch" He lunged at him with the knife in hand but Wesker easily disarmed him with his limb and put him on the ground. Wesker put his boot down on his back. "Now it's time for you to watch, old friend."

His tentacles grew and pinned Jill down and he began to violate her. She screamed in agony crying out, tears running down her cheek. "Still as tight as before i see. It's almost as if she's never been had! Now you will watch, then will you have my permission to die."

He pried her legs apart further with his tentacles. Jill cried out, "Chris...help me...please...help! Oh god..." He cried out trying to get out from under Wesker. Wesker broke his legs with a single stomp on each. He roared in agony louder than the volcanoes roared. He screamed, "Fuck you! I won't look!"

He growled, "Then I will break you where it hurts most!" He began to to tear her apart from the inside with his tentacles as he penetrated her with his own member She shrieked like crazy as he ripped her apart. Just then, Wesker was in his face screaming, "Chris!"

He sucked in a gasp of breath, his blurry vision clearing and his arch enemy faded away and he saw Sheva's face over him. He sat up screaming both in agony and confusion. She had injected him with a shot of adrenaline. As he sat up and gathered his surroundings he realized he was back in Puerto Rico. How could I forget?! God what a nightmare...whatever the hell that was...

Sheva helped him up using a can of first aid spray on him. "Are you all right?" He hoarsely said, "I thought...I was dead..." He looked to see that infected locals were still trying to storm the church. The padre was still managing to hold them off. There was many dead bodies on fire. The smell of burning flesh had been present in his hallucination of Wesker. He'd assumed it had been him burning, not the people in the church.

He looked up and saw that the roof was on fire too. Sheva asked Padre Guzman, "How did that happen? The fire on the roof?" Between shots the priest said, "There was a bit of a fire fight earlier. Some soldiers against rebels. I believe a grenade launcher was fired. We stayed inside hoping it would die down and it did but now we have this to deal with."

He backed up firing taking more of the 'demonios out. Chris told him, "We need to get these people out of this church! This is going to burn to the ground."

Guzman fired a shot at a carrier wearing an old black suit who was carrying a meat cleaver. He hit the man in the left armpit. "Okay! I cover you guys while you get the survivors out of here! We'll need to find someplace safe for them to be!" Chris recovered his weapons. "Everybody this way! Vamanos!" They came following him despite him not knowing much Spanish and them not knowing much English. A couple of the armed survivors who had melee weapons, took out a couple carriers on their way out of the church through the hole.

Guzman told Chris and Sheva, "Go out through the front! I'll be right behind you! I need to get all of these swine in one spot!" They did as he asked and to their surprise he shit it and barred it. "I'll keep them from getting out! You just get those people to safety!"

Sheva called, "Wait!" Chris told her, "There's nothing we can do. Just hope he makes it. Enough people have died today,"As they got outside of the church, he asked her, "How did I survive? Was I even dead to begin with?" She told him, "You were knocked unconscious. The priest told me that you can be knocked unconscious and still have your eyes open. I've seen a lot of things but never that. I thought I'd...we'd lost you."

She seemed to have corrected her words rather quickly and suspiciously carefully. He began to head out away from the church. He coughed as the smoke from the fire was still in his lungs. "I appreciate it, Sheva. I thought I was a goner myself. I gotta say, death aint the relief i thought it would be."

As they walked he could tell she was curious. They could still hear fighting though there was no infected immediately in front of them or around them. They walked past several dead bodies, most of them B.O.W's that had been taken down but a few were also members of the church who'd been taken down by the B.O.W's.

Sheva asked him, "What did you see when you were out,Chris? When you came to you looked like you'd had a horrific nightmare!"He looked at the ground and said, "It's not important. A few drinks after this and it'll all be gone."

She shook her head in disagreement. "That's not healthy, Chris! I',mm your partner. You can talk to me," He still did not want to say anything. She intelligently added, "You don't have to say if you don't want to but I'm here to listen as well as back you up. You do trust me don't yo? Jill even asked you if you did back in Kijuju."

He sighed. "Yeah...I do trust you. I had a dream we were back there. Right before we killed Wesker but something wasn't right. The whole world, time itself seemed frozen. Everything but me and him. You, Josh, Jill...you were all stuck in mid air. So was the helicopter Same with he rockets we fired. They were just stuck like some bad movie prop or camera trick. And Wesker, he kept telling me were in hell, or that we were in his own reality and that he was in control. He had me touch Jill to prove that she was real and not some hallucination. She felt real, Sheva. I thought it was..."

She patiently listened. "Then, he claimed that he..." His voice trailed off. She stopped walking and put a hand on his arm. "What is it? You can tell me, Chris. I won't judge you," He said, "He raped her, Sheva. I didn't believe him. I thought he was just dicking with me but then he showed me her bruises he'd left on her body. Like they were recent...and then...he made time unfreeze, he pulled me and her out of the chopper and he caused you and Josh to crash. Then he raped her in front of me and killed her and there was nothing I could do about it I'm yelling you that was worse to me than the idea that I might be dead. What did all of that mean?"

Sheva listened and frowned but then said, "I'm sorry you had to experience that, Chris. That's terrible. Maybe you should talk to Jill about it too. I mean, maybe she can interpret what it means better. Are you saying he was still alive in that? Do you think it might have been him trying to reach you in a dream state?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. Not a clue. It didn't occur to me he might still be alive in some form even if it's hell. I'm not sure I believe in heaven let alone hell. My mother was Jewish and my father was a Protestant. I found more about my mother's faith I liked than my father. I mean, the language and all. We didn't have anything like that in church. But then, when my parents died, I stopped believing in God. Claire didn't though. She tried to keep her own spirituality a mix of both upbringing. I guess Im more of a cynic where as she's an optimist. I don't know if there is an afterlife at all but if there was a hell I'd expect Wesker to be there."

She decided to offer insight. "I don't know. Maybe he is a demon. All a demon is, was an evil spirit. That's what the word majini meant by the way. Demons. I think we called them that only because they couldn't control themselves. Their own actions. There was a source of evil infiltrating their bodies like a possession. By that definition it made sense to call the plagas variant in their bodies majinis. I feel for the poor bastards who were taken over by it but the only mercy for them after that was death,"

He listened and said, "I guess. Where are you going with all of this?" She said, "Well, Wesker was fully capable of the things he did. He was never under the control of anybody else, right? He'd always controlled the virus instead of the other way around. The people infected, they weren't evil, the things inside them was. But Wesker was a majini to his soul. There was no good in his heart. So if that's true, that means he was a true majini. Maybe that is what you encountered in your dream state? Maybe he used the control of hallucinations to intimidate you because he is angry that you...that we killed him."

Chris wasn't sure. "I don't know. Maybe he's worse than that. Maybe he's the king of all demons so to speak. I mean he was controlling them, he was the one man in control like you said. He was fully aware of what he did and he had delusions that he was doing the right thing but ultimately everything he did lead to destruction and death."

She nodded and said aloud, "Shetani," He looked at her with curiosity and was puzzled and asked, "What did you say?" She looked at him and said, "It means Devil. Or should I say he'd be the king of demons."

Chris smiled and said, "Only my father believed in the devil. My mother believed in the king of demons though. She called him Ashmadia but I'm not sure if that's the same thing as the devil. She believed that the figure of Satan was never anything more than a representation of the evil side of human nature. What my parents believed about the devil was a lot different but I leaned more with my mom on that. She said that no supernatural being has any authority unless God gives it where as my dad believes he did and got tossed out of heaven but now has free will from hell. When my parents died in a car crash when I was sixteen, i stopped believing in all of that. I lost faith on both sides. They both were spiritual people who did they have to die?"

He was being more open with his partner than he had been before. "Still, " He said with a smile, "If anybody could be a demon that was worse than all the rest I could associate that with Wesker. I appreciate your input, Sheva but as far as talking to Jill, I don't know. I'm scared to do it. What if the hallucination was right?"

She honestly told him, "If you truly care for her and want to make up for the some of the lost time, that's a risk you may need to take, partner. It's not for me to say and maybe i shouldn't be telling you this but when I set eyes on her once she'd been freed from Wesker's hold on her, she did have that haunted look in her eyes. I've seen it before in people that have been violated so I wondered that too. But you have to reach out to her, Chris. That's how the healing can begin."

He nodded. "You're right," As he thought about his dead parents and then, Jilland the idea he may need to ask her how she was and what may have happened to her, he thought of his dad. Though he had liked the faith of his mother more, he had always liked one verse from the new testament as well that his father had often read to him since he had gone with him to church on Sundays and with mom to synagogue on Saturdays. He recalled Corinthians 13:11. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things...

This verse he applied to himself as far as how he had to take on the responsibility of raising Claire when they had died. He had been sixteen, she only ten but he got himself legally emancipated to get away from the awful foster parents they'd tried to stick him with. He'd already had a job so from then on out, he had raised Claire. Just as he had done that, taking responsibility and grown p too fast out of necessity, he needed to do the same for Jill.

If nothing else, to give her a an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. The necessity was not his own or Claire's but hers however he believed he needed to help her anyway. So it was a necessity. He would do anything for her and for Sheva. Even die for them.

He was relieved as they walked past a few more bullet ridden bodies of infected carriers, that they were dead and not alive trying to attack the two SOA agents. Just then, they found more of them. It was like they'd come out of nowhere. They had about fifteen and they closed in on Chris and Sheva. He called out, "Fall back!" He fired his Sig, letting off five rounds.

A fence was knocked down from behind the and several more came out on the other side of them and now they were flanked and cornered by two large groups of attacking hostiles. He spotted another chainsaw wielding B.O.W. He felt fear and he went for his Assault Rifle hoping they would out run out of ammo. Just the, shots rang out and rounds rained upon the group in front of them. The chainsaw B.O.W. took two powerful rounds in the back and another in his head. The group of hostiles were easily made to Swiss cheese. The carriers that had initially stalked them were still drawing near but were more careful.

However with the rounds from an H&K G36, five of them were swept up with rounds and two more people emerged from around the side of the wooden fence that was there, the portion of it which had not been knocked down. A BSAA agent fired a shotgun, blowing the head completely off of a man with a pitchfork. Within ten more seconds all the carriers lay dead in pools of their own blood, routed by an onslaught of automatic fire. Chris was glad to see the BSAA was making more effort here.

This was obviously a SOU team all though he was not sure which one. He looked to see a large man finish off one badly wounded carrier, a man who'd had his right arm shot off and had taken several slugs from an MP5. The captain stomped on his head and finished him bringing his weight down with his boot. Chris looked to him in bewilderment. "Barry!"

The big guy had a large shotgun. He looked at Chris and the two men, hugged. They hadn't seen each other since 09', the same year Redfield had killed Albert, whom both had hated. "Chris! You handsome son of a bitch how are ya? Glad to see you're still alive! Thought we'd lost you after Edonia. Nobody knew where you were all this time."

Rebecca was also there. "Chris!" She came up and hugged him, having to stand up to hug him. "Rebecca! It's good to see you. I didn't know you got placed under this old bastard's command!" She blushed but said, "Yes sir," Ah, to hell with formalities! Middle of a mission or not he had a right to hug his friends. He might not get the chance again. Barry said to him, "Listen, Chris, we got some important intel..."

Chris stopped him. "If it's about what they're going to do to this place...I already know. You don't have to say anything," That was not it. "No, Chris, that's what I'm telling you. I just got contact from Jill. She and her partner found an underground base. She thinks it may be where the source of this outbreak might be. She's already leaving us in the dust, I'm sure. Anyway, we're about to head there and give her an assist. You should come along with us. We may not have found it if it weren't for Jill."

He gladly said, "All right. You lead the way. We'll follow," Rebecca and Barry and the rest of his team began to head off and Chris and Sheva followed at a brisk pace about twenty five feet behind them. Just then, Sheva's PDA alerted her. "Who is this?" She asked. A voice neither of them recognized spoke up. "After all these years...it can't be...Sheva...Alomar?"

She repeated her question. "Who is this and how do you know me?" The male responded, "You don't remember me. Are you familiar with the name Alex Wesker? My name speaks volumes for itself. I'm as infamous as Albert, may he rest in peace."

She snapped, "I know who you are. You're another low life terrorist who was with Umbrella. Nobody has heard anything from you since 2006. You were also part of project W under Oswald Spencer. You're also the new head of the Family according to recent Intel."

The man said, "Little Sheva...you've done your is not my natural name. Long before I was ever known as Wesker, I had another surname. Think back! Years ago! There was a family. One lost cousin, a poor little girl who had lost her parents. A family of eight children. Barely making ends meet! There was a young teen who had grown up too fast. His father and mother had a hard time feeding the family so he worked too. Then his cousin ran away at the young age of eight. Poor father...he was so heart broken even so. He thought the evils of the land had taken her."

Sheva looked highly disturbed. Chris wasn't sure what was going on. Her eyes had gone wide. He knew that Sheva was that little girl. He knew all about her background especially considering she had lost her family to Umbrella. "Sheva, what is it?" She ignored what her partner had said and exclaimed, "It can't be!"

Sheva had watery eyes. "You can't be the same person! I kept in contact with my family years later. I was a guerrilla till i was fifteen but as soon as I made it out of there and the Americans took me to the west to get an education, I did let them know I was okay! But my cousin went missing. Nobody ever found him!"

Alex Wesker replied,"That is because he met a similar fate to that of his little cousin. Yet different! I only wish it could have been the Sudanese People's Liberation Army who found me! You know who did? The Lord's Resistance Army. Thats right, Sheva. For a full year, though it was only a year, I was part of Kony's campaign of terror across Norther Uganda and Southern Sudan. I was told that my little cousin had been killed by my commanders. They said that she had been struck by a stray bullet from an SPLA grunt during a fire fight between the SPLA and LRA! I believed for a short time, that the SPLA was responsible for you dying. I'd thought they were heroes until then and I knew the horrors of what the LRA had done. But I didn't care. I wanted revenge for my family member. So I killed and I pillaged. And I burned. Until I was finally selected by Oswald Spencer. That was my past but I never forgot just how evil the land was."

Sheva's lip trembled. "How do I know you're telling the truth? You could just be Albert's brother and are trying to get inside my head. You'll say anything! Alex Alomar was killed. That's what my uncle told me when I contacted him once I got settled back in! He said he was killed in the war. That we had lost him to the land."

Chris's heart felt for his partner. He had said the same thing to Wesker in his hellish yet all-too-real seeming hallucination. That he was just trying to get into his head. Chris put a hand on Sheva's arm to calm her down but she shook it off. For now, it wasn't the time to be calmed down.

Alex then said, "Why don't you answer that for yourself?" His image suddenly appeared on her screen. She gasped as she looked at him, looking like she might faint. The face was not the same exactly as it had been in the early nineties when he was a teenage boy, a young adult almost, but Chris saw a look of recognition in Sheva's horrified eyes. He was a black man with a handsome chiseled face. He did not speak with a Ugandan accent. Or if he did it was barely noticeable. Here, Chris had been expecting him to look somewhat identical to Wesker but the only thing that was the same was his eyes.

Alex said to her, " Tenda ninyi fahamu mimi kidogo dandangu?"He then said in English, "I will be seeing you soon, Sheva. I look forward to when we can meet up face to face."

With that, he was gone. Chris asked, "Sheva, what did he say to you? What does that mean?" Sheva looked to him, horror in her eyes. The look of somebody who had discovered a horrible truth. "He said, do you remember me, little sister'?"

---

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd it's done! lol just for now anyway. So I thought I'd end that on a cliff hanger. I gotta say, the rape thing with Wesker, though it was a hallucination do you all think it really happened as far as what Wesker said he did to Jill? For some reason I can see him doing something like that. I'd always assumed he was either a homosexual or a asexual as far as sexuality because of not being interested in Excella. Then again, I don't think the act itself is really about that so who really knows?

As for Sheva and Alex, that was him speaking to her in Swahili. Basically, in Sudan as well as Uganda, the SPLA are more or less the good guys and the LRA are very very bad. A good movie to see which is based on a true story is Machine Gun Preacher. With Gerard Butler. It was suggested to me by Afro Spirit. Which by the way, man, congratulations on moving to Africa yourself you always used to talk about doing that I never thought you would but you made it happen.

As for Steve,, what did you think of that, of the whole thing overall?

I meant to make this update longer but I am short on time. I'll get to Leon and trying to get Ada back from John in the next chapter. I promise :)

Oh and as for the debate between Carlos, and Miguel, an OC, was kind of the ongoing debate in our community (Natives) from Alaska, to the Caribbean to Argentina, between that of traditional and vs Christian. Carlos being for traditional. FYI, that's where I stand too. No matter what tribe. Our ancestors never needed Jesus and we don't either. We already had God.

By thew way Miguel is visually inspired by Rick Gonzales, his sister, Natalie, by Nadine Velasquez and oh yeah last but not least Alex Wesker is visually inspired by Richard Brooks, who played the villain known as Judah in The Crow City Of Angels. If you see the movie and saw what a creep he is, you'd understand.

You should all go to my profile on here I will post up a link. Toggastay understood where I was coming from anyhow.

Any who, Let me know what you think in a long detailed review. Longer the better!

Later.

Native Guns 13