Claire just watched the corridor ahead with a distant gaze. Those machines with the giant blades had stopped turning, and she could hear heavy footsteps of soldiers approaching.

There was nothing she could do to escape. What was the point? She'd be captured in a matter of moments, if she wasn't killed in the process. Alex mentioned that although she was special to whatever her sick plan was, she wouldn't think twice about killing her if necessary.

Not to mention that, at the moment, she didn't have the strength to move. Her eyes refused to move, the innocent blood she had spilled was just a few steps away from where she stood, and although she tried her best not to think about it, her mind insisted on reliving the past moments, and she saw her body committing a grave sin, a barbaric action that had gone against everything she held dear, everything she worked for.

Guilt slowly consumed her, spreading through her bones as the blood coursed through her veins. She felt like vomiting, disgusted with herself.

And along with the guilt, the frustration, came anger. Her hands were stained with innocent blood, but it wasn't her who should be suffering the most. The real culprit was still unpunished.

The guards arrived with their rifles pointed in her direction. She didn't move a muscle as they approached. She didn't react when they took out their weapons or when they forced her to stand up.

"Мы ее взяли. Ждем дальнейших распоряжений." (We got her. Awaiting further orders.) One of the men said. She wasn't exactly fluent in Russian, she didn't have as much command as she did of other languages, but if the little she knew was right, it was something about new orders.

"Отведите ее в лабораторию на юго-западе. Вам придется обойти верхнюю часть, нижняя используется другими морскими свинками." (Take her to the lab in the southwest. You'll have to go around the top, the bottom is being used by the other subjects). Claire blinked. Something about test subjects? There were more people than her there, of course.

She swallowed some saliva. South... or south-east? She didn't know exactly, but that would have to be enough. She focused her mind on something else, trying to completely ignore what had happened a few minutes ago. Her new goal had her totally focused, she had to find Neil and anyone else who had been taken there.

However, after she was forced to walk outside, she felt her body lock up again. The woman felt her throat close up at the thought that perhaps Alex could control her body again. She didn't know how it worked, but she knew she was infected with something. Something strong enough to be able to control her at certain moments, but too weak to dominate her completely.

Claire closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could only be controlled because of the injuries she had suffered from the creature, which had strengthened the virus in her body... in other words, as long as she didn't suffer any damage from another infected creature, it probably wouldn't happen again.

The woman blinked a few times as she felt the weak sunlight touch her face. She had left the scene. A truck and a van were parked in front. She was leaving a different place. There was no longer that view of the sea, just a single dirt road on a plain decorated with a few trees on the side of the road.

The woman grunted slightly as she was forced into the back of the truck. Her hands were bound by chains. These were sturdier than the previous ones, locked by a padlock. However, a few steps behind was the man with the key.

She sat in silence, quickly observing the soldiers standing next to her. Three men. Two in front of the truck, and two more driving the van in front.

She might not be as skilled as Chris, and she knew it. However, she certainly wasn't going to let herself be taken. Not to mention that it was a good opportunity for her to find out the real extent of her abilities. What would happen if she didn't hold back? For the first time in years, she was tempted to find out.

The woman took a deep breath and closed her eyes, relaxing her body for a few moments. The anger she had felt before would certainly be very welcome at that moment.

In one swift movement, the woman entwined the neck of the soldier next to her and threw him towards the other two before they could even react. Then she advances towards them and kicks the head of one of the guards against the wall of the truck. The flimsy side wall breaks after Claire sinks the man's head into it with her kick, breaking his neck and almost throwing his body out of the vehicle.

Without holding back, she entangles the third soldier's neck with the chains and, in one precise movement, breaks his neck with ease. The first man was still alive, disoriented after being thrown. Wanting to get it over with, Claire stepped on his head, crushing the man's skull and sinking into the metal floor.

She blinked briefly, she had always known she could kill a man with her bare hands, but she had never thought it could be so... easy. She was stronger than she had imagined, she could crush a skull with a kick. Fuck, she was sure she could crush a skull with both hands if she really wanted to and she wondered how strong she could be if she trained that strength.

She didn't know whether to be excited about it, or scared.

Shaking her head after hearing the other soldiers' voices and feeling the vehicle slow to a stop, she took the keys from the man's tactical vest and took the rifle from his hands, only to realize that it was a semi-automatic shotgun with the magazine extended. A VEPR-12 with a holographic sight.

Turning, she pulls the trigger towards the front of the vehicle, killing the two other soldiers in the cab of the truck.

Claire grunted slightly as she felt herself being thrown to the side after the truck lost control, and the vehicle ended up colliding with the van that had slowed down. The woman gritted her teeth as she felt the vehicle overturn and her back hit the ground.

The deafening noise of the accident lasted only a short time, until everything fell completely silent, except for the grunts of the soldiers in the van.

The woman shook her head and stood up quickly. There were still two more.

She once again took a tactical vest for herself. Also a rifle from one of the soldiers and two pistols which she holstered on each of her thighs. The pistols were the SR-2 Udav model, recent weapons created for military use.

The rifle was an AS Val with an integrated suppressor, also for military use. There was a laser attached to the side and a holographic sight, an elongated magazine and armor-piercing ammo. They were well equipped.

Finally, she picked up a Vityaz T survival knife, also for military use. The silver blade shone even in the dim light.

She also grabbed some ammo and supplies.

In total, she only managed to carry seven magazines for the rifle and three for the shotgun, that's counting the ones she managed to put in her pockets. For the pistols she managed to carry four, two for each pistol, apart from the ones already in the weapons.

She also had three small grenades and two herbal mixtures. It was a lot more than she was used to carrying, and she hoped it was enough.

Well, she'd seen Chris carry more than that.

With quick steps, she got out of the vehicle and walked towards the van, where she saw the two soldiers crawling out of the vehicle.

She raised her rifle and shot them both, killing them quickly with shots to the head.

As she lowered the gun, she swallowed some saliva. The urge to vomit still permeated her, she felt... weak. But she soon ignored these sensations.

Her eyes went to the sky, and she pointed her arm at the sun. Soon, she turned around after knowing which way was south, and walked into the forest.


Ghost grunted in pain as his senses returned to his body. His left arm ached badly, as did the side of his back. He was probably bleeding.

The sound of fire invaded his ears, and he cursed softly as he began to rise from the ground.

He propped himself up on his knees and ran his eyes around. He had fallen close to the beach, and there was a cave just in front of him that served as an entrance to the huge hill. The agent grunted as he straightened his posture and looked up. A city... abandoned by the state of the buildings.

He shook his head and turned quickly with wide eyes, his mind screaming the name of a little blonde girl.

He saw Jill get up further ahead, Parker lying not far from the wreckage of the helicopter, and saw Chris help Sherry to her feet.

Jill was wounded on the side of her head, blood dripping from her temple.

Parker was wounded in the back, a piece of metal stuck just above his lower back, but he seemed well enough.

Chris had a small piece of metal in his shoulder; on his face, his worried look blended in with the dirt.

Ghost approached at a fast pace when he saw that Sherry was also injured. There was a metal pipe stuck in her thigh, blood was trickling down the side of her neck and she was screaming in pain.

"Sherry, breathe, okay? Stay calm, I... I'm going to have to take this out of your leg, okay? We know what that's like, okay?" Chris said in a concerned tone, watching the girl sway with a certain frenzy.

Redfield then looked over to where Jill was, somewhat relieved to see that she was already getting up, apparently okay.

Then he looks at Ghost, and his expression becomes a little more serious. The two men stare at each other, and the masked agent understands the reason for the other man's hesitation.

"He... already knows..." Sherry managed to say between gritted teeth, and after a few more seconds with the two of them staring at each other, Chris shook his head and shifted his focus to the metal bar on the girl's leg.

"Holy shit... is everyone okay?" Parker asks between grunts of pain, slightly bent over as he walks at a slow pace towards them, his eyes focused on Sherry. "Ah, shit..."

"I'll pull on three." Chris said, gripping the bar with both hands and straightening up. "1... 2... 3!" He pulls the bar in one swift movement, and Sherry grunts loudly in pain as she feels the object being removed with a certain brutality.

Blood drips from her wound, and Chris throws the metal bar aside, his gaze focused on the girl.

"What?! Chris, you have to clean and stop the-" He interrupted his own speech when he saw that the wound had stopped bleeding, and his eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the wound magically heal in front of his eyes. "...What the...?!"

Chris sighed deeply and stood up suddenly, walking briskly towards Parker.

"Parker, this stays between us, understand?!" He said in a serious tone, and Parker blinked a few times, bewildered.

"What...?"

"It stays a secret! It goes to the grave! Got it?!" He asked once again, not just talking to Parker, but to Ghost as well. The agent, for his part, just shook his head.

Parker stared at Chris for a few moments, until he switched his gaze between Sherry and the man in front of him, startled to see the girl already standing as if nothing had happened.

"... Right... fuck, okay..." He said, still disoriented, and Chris walked away. Not very happy, but that would have to do.

"Right... we need to take care of those wounds." Chris said, observing his surroundings. "Our fall must surely have attracted attention. Let's get to that cave." He said, watching the small group start to move.

"... We can't stay long. This crash wasn't an accident, someone is watching us... they've disabled the helicopter's system. Whoever or whatever is coming, they know that the cave is the most likely place we'll be." Ghost said, walking behind, protecting the rear.

Chris didn't reply, but nodded in agreement.

They entered the cave, realizing that they were going a long way. There was a small rise ahead, just beyond a railing with an open iron door. There were bodies lying there... Bodies the size of wolves, but with a... strange physiognomy.

The legs were boar legs, the body was covered in torn cloths stained with blood, scars and pieces of metal stuck to its back. Its head was slightly elongated, with very little flesh showing underneath. The eyes were small and deep-set, making it look as if the creature had no eyes when seen from a distance.

Whatever it was, it showed signs of extreme torture.

Chris signaled for them to stop walking a few meters away from the bodies. Ghost walked over to stand next to the man, and the two stood in silence for a few moments, watching.

"... What do you think?" Chris asked after a few moments of silence, and Ghost held back from making a provocative comment.

"... I don't see any blood on the ground. Either they were dead before they were thrown here, or they're still alive. I'd advise shooting them." Ghost said, and Chris looked back, signaling Parker to guard the rear.

The two men raised their silenced rifles, Ghost to the left, Chris to the right. They fired at almost the same time, clear shots to the head, and the creatures roared loudly as they struggled.

Their bodies contorted and swelled as if they were going to explode, their skeletal snouts stretched out in a bizarre way, revealing a wide mouth underneath decorated with human teeth.

The roar woke up the others, who got up and started running quickly towards them.

"Hold your position!" Ghost said, kneeling down for better accuracy and firing at the small horde of creatures. Despite their grotesque appearance, they weren't very hostile creatures. They were easy to kill. They were fast, but not very tough. They probably relied on numbers rather than individual strength.

In a few minutes, the creatures were dead. Ghost stood up and reloaded his gun.

"Let's go." Chris said, and they set off, walking up the cave. The place looked abandoned, there were lamps connected to power cables on the walls, some of them destroyed.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached the entrance (exit?) of the cave. They arrived in a small open area. There were two trees on the left, next to a small wooden hut, clearly abandoned by the state. It was almost falling apart.

To the right there was just a small chasm. A drop that led to a destroyed part of what appeared to be a long-abandoned laboratory.

In front of them, a bridge led to one of the city's entrances.

"I think we can stay here for a few minutes." Ghost said, cracking the bones in his neck. He turned and watched Parker put the rifle down, grunting slightly in pain from the piece of metal stuck in his back.

"Sherry, can you help Parker?" Jill asked softly to the girl, who nodded as she watched the woman walk towards Chris. The two of them could deny it as much as they wanted in public, but she knew they liked each other.

As she walked towards Parker, she briefly noticed Ghost leaning against the wall next to the cave entrance.

His arm was bleeding, but apart from that, he looked fine.

"Here, let me help you with that." She offered, placing her small backpack on the ground next to the man.

"Thanks, girl." He thanked her a little breathlessly. "You'll have to... pull it."

"I know... and it's gonna suck." He laughed lightly.

"You could have lied a bit." He said, leaning against the wall and turning onto his back. "Okay... just a pus-" He cried out in pain and surprise as he felt the bar being pulled out all at once.

Sherry bit her lower lip, holding back a laugh as she heard the man's curses and set about cleaning and bandaging the wound as soon as possible.

When she had finished, she looked at Parker with a small, innocent smile.

"... You... I don't know if I should thank you or punch you... but since I don't think Chris would like the second option very much, I'll say thank you."

"You're welcome." She said with a small laugh.

Parker snorted slightly and looked at her a little analytically.

"Look... if I may ask..." He began carefully, not quite sure how to proceed. Although the girl had a calm face, so perhaps he didn't need to worry.

"Yes?"

"... Do you... heal?" He asked, more of a statement than a question, really.

"Yes."

"And how does that work? Like, can you heal... from anything?" Sherry sighed slightly and leaned against the wall next to the man.

"So far, yes." She crossed her arms.

"Broken bones?"

"Yes."

"Perforated organs?"

"Pretty much."

"Diseases?"

"Yup."

"Wow... that must be pretty cool." She snorted in a nasal laugh.

"Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Never getting sick, no matter what, healing basically every kind of injury, always feeling healthy..." She spoke in a distant voice, something Parker realized.

"... How did that happen?" Sherry was silent for a few moments, and after a heavy sigh, she took a few steps away.

"I'm sorry, Parker. It's not that I don't trust you, but this is something I can't tell you. The fewer people who know, the better, for everyone." She scratched the back of her head, and Parker put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, no problem. I understand. Nothing's normal for people like us, huh?" was all he said before walking towards Chris and Jill, who were talking about something.

She just stood there for a while, watching, and deep down she had to agree with Parker... nothing was normal for people like them.

Her gaze then went to the man not far away. Her body trembled as she realized that he was watching her. He was so threatening, so imposing, yet so... familiar.

"... Um... spying on other people's conversations, agent?" She asked humorously, and Ghost snorted softly.

"You weren't exactly trying to keep your conversation a secret." He said, crossing his arms and watching the small group ahead.

"Not that it matters, you already know that anyway." She said, moving a step or two closer to him, but also watching the rest of the group.

"What Parker said, just now..." She blinked a few times, surprised to see that he had started a conversation.

"What? About nothing being normal for people like us?"

"He's right about that... but things will go back to being normal, sooner or later." She arched an eyebrow, curious.

"Do you really believe that?" She asked, and he couldn't help but notice her tone of disbelief.

"Don't you?"

"I believe that these viruses, Umbrella, have fucked things up to the point where there's no going back to normal." He looked at her with serious eyes.

"But they will be, in the future. The next generation, or maybe the one after that... will only know what these viruses are capable of from history books or websites. That will end." He said it with such conviction that the girl was almost convinced.

Almost.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because my organization still exists. What little it has is enough to get us back on our feet." She snorted in derision, not wanting to be rude, but that thought was insane.

"An organization can't make that much of an impact."

"We have so far." She looked at him again, the small disbelieving smile disappearing from her lips.

"Since we came along, we've eliminated a total of ninety-seven bio-terrorist organizations, destroyed around two thousand three hundred vials that contained a sample of some kind of virus. Millions of vaccines have been created for every existing virus we know of." He lowered his arms and picked up the rifle again, holding it just in front of his chest.

"We have names of the corrupt government from every continent in the world. Those who tried to create an empire of terror were scared, their laboratories were shut down and many of them were killed. When we deal with the Weskers and Umbrella, I'm going after the corrupt... and if it doesn't end in peace, it'll end in fear." He said, without blinking, as he looked deep into Sherry's eyes, who said nothing.

He meant it... and maybe, just maybe, he really could do it.

"Come on... we've been here long enough." He said, breaking eye contact and walking towards the group.

Sherry stared at his back for a while, his intonation, his eyes... she knew him, for sure. She had no doubt, but she had no idea how or where she knew him. All she knew was that the scene was somewhat familiar.

With short steps, she walked towards them.

They walked across the bridge, adjusting their equipment once more before getting into position. As they walked, however, they widened their eyes and felt goosebumps rise on their skin as they heard a loud, high-pitched roar that was fast approaching.

A huge shadow formed on the ground ahead, and the group's eyes went up to the sky, where they saw a huge creature flying towards them, fast as a hawk going for the kill.

The creature looked like an enormous bat. It had four wings, two along its long arms, and two more on its back, just above a huge scorpion-like tail, where balls of pus seemed to pulsate.

The creature roared again and dived.

"Ah, shit! We've got to go!" Chris shouted, taking the lead and firing at the creature.

Ghost did the same, waiting for the others to pass him.

However, the creature was too fast and crashed into the point after Sherry and Jill jumped to the side, both women falling to the ground.

The creature roared as the ground cracked from the impact, the bridge was going to give way.

Parker helped Jill to her feet and Ghost ran towards Sherry. He put the rifle on his back and picked up his desert eagle, firing at close range at the huge creature, which staggered backwards in a choked roar.

"Are you okay?!" He asked, sounding a little more worried than he had thought.

Before the girl could answer, however, they grunted as they felt the ground sink. Parker and Jill jumped away moments before the bridge gave way, sending Ghost, Sherry and the creature tumbling down the bridge.

Sherry fell into the wreckage of the abandoned laboratory, into a long-forgotten room with beds strewn about, old and some destroyed.

Ghost held onto the creature and used it to cushion his fall. He fell further down, into the deep passage where the sea probably flowed years ago.

He grunted in pain as he felt the impact, but recovered quickly after drinking a mixture of herbs. He had taken some extra with him, so he could use it a little more deliberately.

His eyes focused on the laboratory a few meters above, and then on the worried faces of the group even more meters above the laboratory.

"Are you guys okay?!"

"Sherry, are you okay?" He heard them shouting above, and felt a pang of relief when he saw Sherry stand up and lean on the destroyed wall.

But before they could say anything else, another roar, similar to the previous one, caught their attention.

There was another...

"Oh shit! We can't stay here!" Parker shouted, and Chris gritted his teeth as he stared down at Sherry.

"We can't go up through here! I'll meet you in the city!" Sherry shouted worriedly, staring into Chris's nervous eyes. The two stared at each other for a while, as if communicating mentally, and after a while, Chris nodded.

"We'll meet up by the radio! We'll launch the flare as soon as we find a safe place!" Chris said, and Sherry nodded in understanding. He then faced Ghost, and both men nodded to each other.

He then ran towards the town while they shot at the creature.

Sherry gasped a few times and turned his gaze downwards, watching Ghost shoot at the creature a few more times.

"Ghost!" She called after him.

"You heard him, Sherry! Get out of here! I'll meet you later!" He shouted, dodging an attack from the creature's huge tail, which would surely have split him in half.

"I know, but-"

"Don't give me that!" He interrupted her, perhaps rudely, but she didn't care. "Look, this isn't some sacrificial bullshit, okay?! It's my job! It's what I do for a living! So get out of here! I'll meet you later!"

The girl rolled her eyes... he had more in common with Chris than it seemed. Why did they have to be like that? Just accept the damn help.

"Yeah... okay! We'll talk on the radio! You'd better come!" She shouted, before turning and entering the abandoned laboratory.

Ghost threw a concussion grenade on the ground and walked away. Bats hunted by hearing, and that would certainly do a fair amount of damage to the thing.

"You bet, girl." Ghost said, just before tearing open the tail of the huge beast and sticking a grenade inside.


Heey, how are you? Well, I've had a bit of time this week.

I bought a new game and planned to play it at the weekend, going out with friends, so I decided to post a chapter early, I hope you like it!

Reunion is approaching, I can't wait to write... and at the same time I'm a bit afraid, since I'm not good at romance, but we'll see.

See you my darlings!