" " =Speech

[ ]=Josh’s personal Thoughts

( )= Evans Personal Thoughts

{ }= Authors Notes

Chapter Five: The Pharmaceutical Raid Begins!

Josh smashed through the first story windows as he shot off 6 rounds in random directions, he then shot off 15 clips from his SMG’s in random directions. Josh got out of the Hummer and looked around. To his surprise only the receptionist and some people that were probably waiting for job interviews were in the lobby. *DAMN! I wasted all this ammo for NOTHING* Josh yelled in his mind. Just then Josh saw that he blasted open a wall revealing "Green Herbs". Josh saw this and ran back to the rendezvous point with some green herbs in hand.

Evan was just finishing up blowing up some holes in the upper levels when he heard Josh yelling.

"EVAN! WE GOTZ GREEN HERBS!" Josh was yelling while stopping inches before hitting Stef, who was shooting her SMG’s at the middle levels.

"What?!?" Asked a rather confused Evan

"I said we have green herbs. I found them while I was blowing shit up. Oh yeah my ammo was a waste I hit 5 people come on man FIVE PEOPLE how weak is that?" Josh said. Just then about fifteen bodies fell from the upper and middle levels of Umbrella Corp.

"I hate you" Josh said

"Yeah well just because you suck…" Stef began to say, but Evan covered her mouth.

"What she means is that you’re gonna kill some zombies once we get in there." Evan answered while giving Stef a dirty look.

"I hear that!" Josh said. With that Josh Evan and Stef went to do a jumping high five but Josh pushed her and she fell. Josh and Evan did a jumping high five.

The trio walked into umbrella and into a near by elevator. "I think we should do this floor by floor" Josh suggested and Evan and Stef nodded. Evan pushed the button for the second floor. During the ride Evan and Stef made out while Josh put a gun to his head and pretended to pull the trigger. The elevator doors slowly opened and the trio were greeted by a small horde of zombies. Josh and Evan drew their swords and began hacking up each zombie one by one, blood brains and guts spilled over the walls and another horde came into the hallway.

"Josh, maybe we shouldn’t use the swords anymore I think the blood and guts everywhere are attracting more zombies" Evan said with a smirk

"Good point" Josh said while putting away the sword and took out his SMG’s.

Josh and Evan backed into the elevator where Stef was waiting with her guns loaded. A bigger wave of zombies came after them but stopped about 5 feet away. The zombies were being picked off one by one, though none of the trio had fired a round. Evan spotted a tongue cutting swiftly through the zombies.

"LICKER!" Evan yelled while drawing one of his faster guns.

Josh shut the elevator doors and shot little holes through the thin steel, just big enough to see and shoot through. Josh pointed his gun out of his window and the others followed. When the licker was in sight the trio shot quickly, sloppily taking off its arms and legs. For some reason it was still crawling towards them. Evan opened the door and threw a grenade into the licker’s mouth. Josh shut the elevator door and waited for the boom. Gore entered through the small holes that Josh had created, as well as pressure from the blast, knocking the trio on their butts. The trio got up and left the elevator only to see a hole in the wall and a trail of blood going into the ceiling.

"Damn it! We better be on the look out incase he comes back" said Evan looking himself over and then checking to make sure that his friends were not injured.

Josh scrounged through his pockets for submachine gun ammo but found none. He holstered his weapons and drew his pistols, sighing at his gratuitous waste of precious bullets. Stef smiled and put away her own submachine guns to draw the more powerful upgraded Magnum. Evan smiled at her choice and jammed a fresh clip into his PSG1. "Licker is gonna die." Evan said with an evil smiled as he peered up the hole that the Licker had escaped into with his 6x sight. "Bitch is fast. No sign of it… except the blood."

Josh nodded. "But what I don’t get is how the thing was able to climb after we blew its friggen legs and arms off!"

Evan pulled out his handy notepad, which he had placed in his back pocket just in case and flipped to the section titled, ‘advanced enemies’ and flipped to his notes on Lickers from Resident Evil games and the Movie. "It had been eating zombies when we came in, therefore it must have been evolving from the DNA that it had ingested, offering it the possibility to grow new appendages."

Josh blinked, looking confused. "Wha?"

Stef made her attempt at filling him in on their rather dire situation. "The Licker is becoming cooler and harder to kill. Comprehend?"

Josh nodded and a broke into a small sweat. "So that is not good."

Evan nodded and shouldered his PSG1 to draw his dual Ingrams. He made sure that there was enough ammo and motioned with one hand for the pair to follow him.

"When did he become the boss?" Josh griped as he reluctantly followed.

Stef smiled. "Since you started to follow him." She said, motioning to the fact that Josh had, indeed, followed Evan’s order.

"Shut up." Josh muttered as he cocked both of his pistols and covered the rear.

A few minutes later Evan stopped and motioned quickly for the others to do the same and stay silent. An audible ripping sound that seemed to be something either eating something large or being shredded slowly. Evan peeked around the corner quickly and spotted the Licker, or at least a Licker. Its flesh was peeling and charred, so Evan guessed it was the one he had tossed a grenade at. The Licker was currently cleaning out the intestines of a fellow Licker. Evan ducked back quickly and fought the urge to puke. He softly explained the situation to his colleges and flicked the safety off his Ingrams. "On the count of three." Evan whispered as he prepared to leap out at the creature. "1…. 2….3!!" Evan jumped around the corner, rolled and aimed his Ingrams at where the Licker had been. Only the corpse of the dead Licker remained. Evan scanned the room quickly, his compatriots aiming randomly at the ceiling and at the pillars that were lined up against the walls. Then Evan noticed the large ventilation shaft. "They are in the vents." Evan said softly, knowing that after he had screamed three that any predators that could hear would be nearing them shortly.

Josh shrugged nervously. "Let’s go." He said, motioning to where they had just came from, as there was no other ways in or out of the room besides the ventilation shaft.

Evan nodded and motioned for them to go on without him for a bit. Stef hesitated but went as he primed one of his remaining grenades from the Bush Boys raid and tossed it roughly into the ventilation shaft before running like hell.

The Trio went into a nearby elevator and went to the next floor, Josh and Stef reloaded their guns and slowly entered the hallway they saw a hole with blood. Evan looked up into the hole and saw parts of human flesh, it didn’t look like zombie flesh and Evan thought *Damn, they must have been survivors* just then Evan felt something fall onto his head and start beating. He looked up and saw a survivor reaching out for him, the survivor’s entrails were hanging from a deep gash in the man’s side. The survivor couldn’t talk and Evan saw why, his tongue had been ripped out or eaten it was hard to tell which. Evan grabbed the guy and started to drag him out of the ceiling. Evan was out of the hole when the survivor’s upper torso came falling out onto the floor. Josh and Stef looked up only to see a licker feasting on the lower torso of the survivor’s body. Without a second thought Josh and Stef started to shoot the licker, taking off one of its legs. The licker let out a huge moan and ran off.

Josh and Stef looked back at the survivor only to see that Evan had put a bullet in his head.

"I think he would have wanted me to do it" Evan said in a saddened voice. "Now let’s move on" he added.

Josh nodded and Evan motioned for Stef to follow him. She did, reloading her magnum. After some more wandering Evan and the crew found a sealed room, it appeared airtight. *This is too convenient. * He thought as he looked around for a handle or some sort of mechanical release for the door. *Probably have to find a keycard… * Evan laughed quietly, getting a strange look from both Josh and Stef. *But first I have to find the main fuse, but before that I need two Virgin Heart Rubies and a pair of gold Lugers. * He joked to himself as he checked the door’s edges, looking for someway in.

It was perfectly sealed. Evan looked down and noted that he had only one grenade left over. *Son of a bootch. * He mentally cursed. As he reviewed his current standings. *One grenade, ten PSG1 clips, eight Ingram clips, five HP5 clips and three 9mm clips as well as a few stray rounds in my back left pocket. Oh and my Cigars… I’m running low on those. * He thought as he brought out one of the larger cigars and lit up, Stef following suit with a cigarette. Josh just sat there and pondered his situation.

*We need to get in this door cause Evan seems interested in it… might have survivors. * Josh thought as he walked up to the door and checked the edges, finding it the same as Evan had. He pondered for a second and then knocked on the door with the butt of his shotgun.

*Oh yeah, and twenty 12 gauge shotgun rounds on me somewhere. * Evan thought as he watched Josh pound on the metal door.

There was a muffled yell inside and Evan caught on to what Josh was trying to do. "OPEN THE DOOR! WE ARE HUMAN!!" Evan yelled out as he pounded on the door with his fists.

Another muffled yell emanated from within and the door clicked open. It automatically opened fully after a second, revealing a frightened woman with dyed blue hair that framed her face in downward spikes. She was wearing an Umbrella lab coat and had an ID card that matched her appearance. She was slender, but not stick-like around the waist, her hips jutted out slightly, making her seem larger than her 5’ 6" frame. Evan strained to read her ID card but found that he couldn’t without his reading glasses, which he had left in the bomb shelter. She scrunched up, holding on to a scalpel for dear life. Her eyes, Evan could see, were light blue, slightly lighter than her hair color. She was wearing a simple white blouse under the lab coat and matching white slacks all of the white contrasting the blue of her hair and eyes, making her more appealing to the eye. *Not to busty. * Evan thought, as he looked the petrified lady over. *But she seems to be just right for a certain biznoochie. * He nudged Josh to approach her, in an attempt to bond them and get the blue haired lady out of shock.

"Excuse me?" Josh started, the girl seeming to relax after hearing something other than a pitiful moan from someone.

"Y-yes?" She asked cautiously, still gripping the knife.

"We are human, we want to help you and any other survivors in the building. But you are going to have to come with us. Can you stand?" Josh asked, extending his hand slowly.

The girl eyed him suspiciously, seeming to forget about his friends, the other male facing outside of the room and keeping watch. She liked the calm, coolness of the boy in front of her, it was refreshing in this time of chaos. Then she noticed his army garb and weapons and backed up again.

"What is it lady?" Josh asked, sounding more sympathetic than annoyed.

"Y-you are from the army!" She said, searching around with her free hand for some other form of weapon than her scalpel. Finding none she backed up, pressing herself harder against the wall. Josh looked himself over and noticed that he still had his shotgun out and slung it over his shoulder. "Look, I’m not in the army, I just needed gear to protect from zombies. I’m not going to hurt you. Neither will any of my friends here."

The girl smiled roughly. "Bullshit." She wielded her knife in front of her waving it back and forth so that Josh could not grab hold of it and get it from her. "I know what you want!"

Evan smirked and turned back to the group. "Then what do we want lady?"

The girl smiled, still frightened. "You want my cure."

Evan’s left eyebrow shot up with interest. "Cure?"

"Cure for the virus. I developed it. Of course you know that."

Evan shook his head. "Afraid not lady."

The female lab technician looked confused, sensing the truth in Evan’s voice. "Really?" Evan nodded. "Oh… But how can I trust you!!"

Evan shrugged. "That’s up to you. I can only show you the path, I can’t guide you down it."

Josh looked over at Evan and tried to remember where he had heard that speech, or at least one similar.

The girl appeared to be trying to do the same. Evan just smiled. "Are you in or out? You can’t last here forever. You don’t even have a food supply." Evan was corrected when she pointed to a nearby fridge. "Oh."

"Yeah. But… I am running low… I suppose I’ll tag along till I have a reason not to." The girl said.

Evan smiled, as did Josh. "So what’s your name?" Josh asked.

"Melanie White. But I guess you can call me Mel." Mel said.

"Ok Mel." Evan started as he surveyed the room. "So where would more survivors be?"

Mel looked down, seeming to be ashamed. "There are no more survivors. I’m the last one here. Everyone else got out of the building or was killed by prototype bio weapons or the virus."

Evan nodded grimly and bit his bottom lip. "Hmm…" Evan paced for a bit and then a look of shock came across his face. "All of these ‘prototypes’ they wouldn’t happen to be like the things in the Resident Evil games would they?"

Mel nodded. "Yeah, somebody went rouge on us and escaped for long enough to write down all of the bio weapons capabilities and appearances and submit it as a game idea as a warning for what was to come. Everything in the games is on a lower scale as to what Umbrella was truly planning, but you know that now. The characters and places are real, but the names are changed. ‘Leon’ was a test subject as was the ‘STARS’ team. They were trained individuals put up against impossible odds with a scripted trader who became the first hybrid. ‘Wesker’ I think." Evan nodded, having good knowledge of the games. "Yeah. Well, he was, and still is real. He should be in the Congo with the Umbrella heads."

Evan smiled. "Congo got hit." He then thought about what he had said and blinked, now looking serious. "It was taken out."

Mel laughed weakly. "I know it’s to much to hope for, but I sure hope the Umbrella bastards got hit hard!"

Evan smiled again, this time weaker. "Yeah… but why did they do this?"

Mel frowned. "Cause they now own the world. The next set of bombs will drop, filled with my antidote. It will kill all of the zombies and bio weapons on Earth and spare humans. Within a few hours the virus will have eaten the corpses and the world will be completely under Umbrella control."

Evan pondered this. "So that’s why they decompose so fast. They are being eaten from the inside."

Mel nodded. "That’s right. So all we have to do is wait for the strike and then move in on the Umbrella bastards." She said, with hatred in her voice.

Evan nodded, Josh and Stef taking in what had been said. "OK then, let’s go." Josh said, motioning to the door.

Evan shook his head. "Not yet. I need some of this antidote. If it works like Mel says it does, we can cleanse Lindsay of zombies in no time. Oh, and Josh, you and Mel should head out and pick up a mattress and blanket set for Mel. She will be staying with us I presume." Mel nodded and Evan winked at Josh. "She should be in your section, we don’t want to unnerve her with me and Stef’s… night actions."

Mel smiled, catching the innuendo. "Oh, I don’t mind. But if you want your privacy then I’ll have to shack up with this guy."

Evan blinked. "Oh… how rude of me. This is Stef." He said, pointing at his girlfriend. "And Josh." He pointed at Josh. "And I am Evan. Now let’s nab us some antidote and get out of here."

Mel nodded and led the way. Within thirty minutes of marching around the halls the found the antidote storage room, having now encounters of the undead kind.

Evan looked at the door over and noted that it was airtight much like every other door in this damn factory thing. *Fuck. * Evan thought as Mel brushed by him. She went up to the door and flipped down a panel, she put her ID card on it and the electronic lock released and the door opened, revealing a room that appeared to be untouched by the havoc the building contained. Mel rushed in and grabbed a metal briefcase and rushed back out, motioning for the trio to follow her. They did so without question, Evan constantly looking back as they exited the building in haste. A three legged Licker hobbled quickly towards the party. Evan smiled as he decided to finish the creature. He brought out his PSG1 and lined up the Licker right between the eyes and pulled the trigger. He watched the creature squirm for a second before it stopped moving, but for some strange reason he enjoyed watching the thing die. Perhaps it was the effort it had taken to bring the beast down, or just the thrill of killing an actually threatening creature. Evan didn’t know, and truly could not care as he turned and walked out of the building and hopped into his snowplough, Stef already in the passenger side. He looked over at the Hummer and spotted the newest addition to the team in the back seat of the Hummer manning the grenade launcher. *She’ll make a good addition. * He thought as he turned the key and backed out of the lot, scanning for threats as he went.

In the Congo just moments later. "Sir, we have visual proof of survivors in Canada. They just raided the Peterbourough base and took a briefcase of antidote." A man in a lab coat said as he looked up from his monitor. The man was one of a hundred similar men and women, watching the globe for survivors.

"A survivor?" A slender young man in a white suit asked, standing up from his throne of gold, which was at the head of a large oak table only meters from the array of computers and people.

"Yes sir. Four actually. Two male and two female. One of them a former employee. Melanie White, she was on research for the antidote team, she was the one to make the break through. The others are unidentified youth, possibly 19 or older, we have digital photos of them if you care to review them."

The man nodded and let out a small, dark chuckle. *Looks like I may have some playthings after all. * He thought as he approached the man’s terminal. "Show me the unidentified three." He said, bending slightly to adjust to the screen. The man at the terminal typed quickly, bringing up a picture of a young man with a rifle firing a shot into one of the prototype bio weapons. "That creature… a Licker I presume."

The man nodded. "Yes sir, one of the fifty stored in the facility. It is one of five accounted for, the others are either still in containment or outside of the facility."

"This boy took out a Licker?"

"With aid from his friends. I have the whole battle pieced together on a video file if you wish to watch it."

The man in white nodded. "Yes please." The man at the terminal clicked an application from many others and the screen went black for a second. The video feed was near perfect, showing every action taken by the, at that time, trio to take the Licker down. "Impressive. The taller boy is an excellent shot. The others are not to bad, especially that other boy. He has some potential." The man in white clicked a button on his watch and spoke into it. "Bring me agent Wesker. He has a mission."

Evan plopped down on his bed and pulled the Powerpuff covers around him. "Another day gone by." He said as he snuggled into the bed and held the pillow under his head. Within a few minutes he was asleep. Stef came in only seconds later and did basically the same thing with out talking.

Josh and Mel walked carefully around the furniture store. "They didn’t leave to many good mattresses that aren’t covered in dried gore. Sorry about that." Josh said as he motioned towards the mattress section.

Mel smiled. "No prob, let’s just grab a clean one and get out of here."

Josh did just that and with her help got the mattress into the Hummer and unloaded it in the Children’s section a good distance from his own. Mel smiled. "You guys got a PS2?" She said, looking over said electronic device.

Josh nodded and sat down in front of the tube, clicking it on with a nearby remote. "Wanna play?"

Mel nodded and picked GTA 3 out of the stack and put it in the PS2. The pair played till all hours, no even getting a wink of sleep.

The next day Evan awoke to a whirring sound. "What the hell?" He asked sounding irritated. He grabbed up his katana and slipped on his kimono and walked out side to see a helicopter land just outside of the library, its side guns blazing away at an oncoming hoard of undead that seemed drawn towards the chopper. Evan smiled at the sight. "Reinforcements at last." He muttered as he started to go back inside to wake his friends. It proved futile as Stef, Josh and Mel all walked out just as he was heading in. Stef wearing her kimono and Josh and Mel wearing the clothes they had on the day before, which was normal as not to many other clothing articles had been picked up. Evan turned back to face the chopper and gave it a light salute. Much to his surprise a familiar looking man hopped out, the chopper taking off again. The man gave Evan a salute back, his much firmer. "Good morning." He said in a slightly deep voice. "I am agent Wesker from Umbrella corps. I believe you are some of the luckiest people alive on this shit hole of an Earth. I say that with extreme confidence, as there are not too many other survivors on the Earth and even so, they haven’t been selected as one of you have." Wesker stopped and looked down at his watch, which was black, much like everything else he was wearing. "I’m looking for an Evan McNeely, he should be between the ages of 17-19, approximately 5’11" to 6’1". Dark hair, brown eyes, accurate with a rifle."

Evan stepped forward, a small smile on his face. "That would be me. What of it?"

Wesker grinned, his eyes flashing red from under his dark glasses, a trait that Evan had already guessed would exist due to his exposure to the games. "You are to come with me. By any means necessary."

"What if I don’t want to go?" Evan asked calmly, putting his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

"I’ll make you." Wesker said, his grin growing.

Evan looked nervous for a brief second but then became stern. "I’ll go."

Wesker smiled. "Good, I had hoped you would. Drop off your weapons and follow me."

Evan turned and handed his katana to Stef, gave her a kiss and walked away slowly, her eyes watering. Before she knew it the Helicopter had come back and Evan was gone.

Later that day in the Congo, Evan was lead inside of a large castle like building, Wesker following him to make sure that he didn’t try anything. Evan admired the architecture for awhile before he grasped the danger of his situation. "Wesker?" He began, getting the genetically altered man’s attention.

"So you do talk." Wesker responded, relating to the fact that Evan had hardly spoken a word since he had gotten on the helicopter.

Evan smiled. "Yeah, so um, what exactly do they want with me?"

Wesker shrugged. "I don’t know. I was only sent to retrieve you by any means possible. Everything on this mission is need to know basis. You’ll find out soon enough though. We’re here."

Evan nodded. "I got that part. Let’s go then."

Evan and Wesker entered the castle that had a roomy lobby, in which Wesker left Evan to go inform his higher ups. Five minutes later a well-dressed blonde man entered the lobby. "Good evening Mr. McNeely. I am Alex Rose, head of Umbrella Corporation. Welcome to my humble abode." The man extended a white-gloved hand that Evan took and shook firmly.

"As you probably know, due to your vast intelligence resources, I am Evan McNeely, Secondary school Student and survivor." Alex nodded and took his hand away.

"Pleasure to meet you in person. I’ve been viewing your progress for quite some time now. Would you care to join me in the dining room for a small feast in your honour?"

Evan smiled. "It would be rude of me not to." With that Alex led the way to the dining room and the feast began.

Back in Lindsay, Stef had been crying since he left. He didn’t even give her a reason why he should trust this Wesker guy. "Why did you go Evan?" She muttered between tears.

Mel and Josh were in the other room, feeling sorry for the girl as her boyfriend left her to go with some guy he didn’t even know. "She’s got it rough." Mel stated after hearing the whole story about Stef and Evan’s odd relationship.

"Yeah." JD said missing his friend more than feeling sorry for Stef. "But he’ll be back, Evan’ll find a way to survive. He’s got a killer instinct type deal."

Mel nodded. "I noticed his eerie calmness when he was blowing the crap out of stuff."

JD smiled. "Yeah, oh well. There isn’t much we can do for Stef now; it’s best we just let her get it out of her system. Side’s Evan must have some sort of plan or else he wouldn’t have gone without a fight."

Evan cut a small slice off of the tender steak in front of him. "Mr. Rose, this is excellent, my compliments to the chef."

Alex smiled. "I’m glad that you enjoy it. But I’m afraid we must move on to more serious matters."

Evan nodded. "Alright, I suppose it was inevitable. What matters do we have to discuss."

"Well," Alex began. "I have a little contract I’d like very much for you to sign."

"What does this contract stand for?" Evan asked, sounding curious.

"Your employment at Umbrella Corporations. Oh and of course, moderate genetic alteration so that you can keep up with our best field agents."

Evan nodded. "I’m intrigued. But this brings me to something that has bothered me since ‘Wesker’ came to collect me."

Alex smiled. "Why he is working for us and not the competition as in the video game series?" Evan nodded. "Well now, we quite simply, vaporised the competition, Wesker was without work so he came to us."

"Makes sense. So what kind of genetic alteration are we talking about? Hopefully not a long bath in the T-veronica virus." Evan said, sounding only slightly nervous.

Alex waved a hand slightly to diffuse Evan’s edginess. "Not at all. What I have in mind for you is much more beneficial than becoming the ‘Queen ant’ as was described in the novel. Though, that option is reserved for yours truly." Alex said with a smile as he gestured to himself. "Anyway, what we have in mind for you is slightly simpler. It will be much like Wesker’s abilities, begin able to not be attacked by the carriers and have a sort of empathy with one of the more specialized types of creatures. Wesker has Hunters, you will get the ‘Bandersnatches’ as they have been lovingly dubbed."

Evan guffawed for a second. "No way! Those are my favourite bio-weapon units and if I may say so, Umbrella’s finest piece of work since the Nemesis program."

Alex seemed to blush slightly. "Well, I am quite flattered that you think so highly of what most gamers consider cannon fodder."

Evan smiled broadly. "Well, you don’t have your average gamer here. The Bandersnatches’ elasticity is pure genius, it allows for a quick method of transportation for an otherwise slow creature which also makes it’s deadly grasp a potential threat from areas even the most calculating person would not expect. Not to mention to sickening thud it creates when it brings itself onto a wall, that along is enough to bring fear to the bravest of us."

Alex’s blush grew slightly. "Not to blow my own horn, but it was my idea to create the Bandersnatch line of bio-weapons."

Evan gave him a small applause. "Bravo to you sir. You truly are a genius."

Alex nodded, seeming to be swelling with pride. "So then, I expect you will be joining my fine establishment?"

Evan nodded back enthusiastically. "Yes sir. Just tell me where to sign."

Stef sat on top of the Library, Evan’s PSG1 resting on her lap. The zombies had slowed down since he left. Maybe they where following Evan, or there could be survivors somewhere else in Lindsay. She really didn’t care though. Evan was gone. She had given herself to him with no strings attached and he went off to probably his doom with some guy he had seen in a video game. *Where are you Evan? And why did you leave? * She queried mentally as Josh walked slowly up behind her.

"Hey Stef." He began quietly as he sat down beside her. "How are you feeling?"

Stef smiled roughly, fighting back a few tears. "Good, considering the circumstances."

Josh nodded. "Yeah. That’s good. But don’t worry about Evan. He’ll come back to you. Trust me, Evan will find a way."

Stef’s smile grew slightly at Josh’s encouraging words. "Thanks Josh. I now know why Evan chose you as a friend."

"Yeah… Do you want to be alone?" Josh asked.

Stef’s smile shrank and she gave Josh a solemn nod. Josh went back down to the main floor, leaving Stef to her thoughts.

Mel flicked through Evan’s notes, smiling when she saw that he had indeed been almost exactly right about what was happening, especially with the quicker decomposition rate of the zombies post-mortem. *Well, post, post mortem to be exact. * She mentally joked as she reviewed one of the sketches in the book, as there were many. *Seems like somebody can’t focus to well without some visual aid. *

Just then Josh pushed open the doors to the Children’s section of the Library. "Hey Mel. Checking out Evan’s stuff?" Mel nodded. "Cool. Was he onto anything?"

Mel nodded again. "He basically had our theories and seems to have a good grip on how the virus is spread and how it eats away at the body, making it rot quicker."

Josh frowned. "I’m sure he would have liked to know that he was close. So, um… where do you think they took him?"

"Main headquarters in the Congo, they are probably going to either sign him onto their side or kill him. I don’t know which."

Josh shuddered at the possibilities. "Thanks for the support."

"Any time."

Two very uneventful weeks later a helicopter landed in front of the Library and a youth clad entirely in black, despite the heat of the day, stepped out and waved the chopper off. "Head back to main base. I have a job to do here." The youth said into the watch on his wrist. The pilot of the chopper gave the guy a thumb up and took off. The black shrouded man pushed a small button on the side of his designer shades and instantly a diagnosis of everything he focused on popped up. *Area secure. * "Drop the cargo." He commanded into his watch. A few seconds later two metallic tubes plummeted to the abandoned streets, landing just behind the man who walked up to each tube and pressed a small black button on the right side. *Arise my beauties. * He thought as the creatures inside of the tube seemed to follow his command.

Two fully-grown Bandersnatches stepped out of the metallic tubes, flexing their deformed, but insanely powerful, left arm and focusing their eyes to adjust to their new surroundings. The man pointed to the Tim Horton’s across the street and the left Bandersnatch rushed to it. He then pointed to the small mall behind him and the other Bandersnatch entered it by smashing open the glass front double doors.

Evan McNeely took off his designer sunglasses and tucked them into the front breast pocket of his trench coat. He patted his left and right thighs to make sure that both of his highly modified Magnums were in place as well as the many clips packed with explosive tipped rounds. *Perfect. * He thought, feeling the pleasure of his hench-monsters when he thought that. Evan waved up to the person on the rooftop, which happened to be Josh at the moment and nodded to him, running a hand through his spiked hair.

Josh recognised his friend through the scope of his gun. *Oh my God. He’s back. * He thought as he fumbled around for his walkie-talkie. "STEF! MEL! HE’S BACK!!" He screamed into his walkie-talkie. Almost instantly Stef burst from the front doors of the Library and engulfed Evan in a hug, not caring about his change of garb.

Evan smiled and looked down on the girl, hugging her back. "It’s good to see you again Stef." He said quietly.

Stef held her self slightly away from him and smiled back. "I missed you so much baby." She replied as Mel and Josh walked out of the Library simultaneously, Josh toting a 9mm and Mel one of Evan’s old Ingrams.

"What’s up with them?" Evan asked, noting the weaponry. Stef shrugged. "Hey Nooch. What’s up?"

Josh smiled nervously. "Not much, the zombies have been diminishing in numbers so there hasn’t been much to shoot." Evan nodded in understanding. "So what did they want with you?"

Evan grinned before starting to speak. "They wanted me to join them, and if I did they would ‘upgrade’ me. Of course I accepted, they might as well have had a gun to my head, but. But, they gave me a mission that I was more than happy to comply to as my ‘test run’."

Mel motioned with her hand for Evan to continue. "Go on." She urged.

Evan’s grin grew. "I have been given powers so that I can guard you three."

Josh nodded and holstered his gun, Mel didn’t. "What sort of powers?" She asked suspiciously.

"Strength and grip proportionate to a Bandersnatch, elastic tendons in place of old tendons, flexible muscles that can’t pull when I hyper-extend my arms, legs, spine, fingers, whatever. Complete physical control of my body, and a sort of empathy with any Bandersnatches in a hundred yard radius. Oh, state of the art weaponry and the knowledge and tact to use any weapon made to its full potential." Evan said, his grin growing wider than normally possible.

Mel put away her weapon and stepped back. "Care to demonstrate."

Evan nodded. "Sure thing." With that he arched his back in an unnatural way and lunged his shoulders forward, making his arms shoot out over twenty feet, his hands grasping a light post. He smiled at Mel and shrugged once, retracting his tendons and making himself fly towards the post at breakneck speed. He hit the post with a clang that made everyone look away. But when they looked back Evan was standing sideways on the pole, supported only by his firm grasp of the metal tube. He smiled again and drew one of his weapons, with was about the size of a normal magnum, but had a larger handgrip. Evan’s fingers flexed around the handle, getting a firm grip, as he took careful aim at a mailbox and fired a single round. The sound was deafening. But when the group looked at where Evan had been pointing, there was not much left of the mailbox, but for its metal legs, which were bent over by the force of the blast. Evan slide down the pole one handed and holstered his gun. *Come to me. * He thought, getting the attention of the Bandersnatch in the mini-mall. It followed his orders, its own arm hyper-extending and attaching to the pole behind Evan. Within an instant it was hanging off the pole by its good arm, looking around with its skull-like face, the tendons in its neck bulging.

"That is gross." Stef commented about the Bandersnatch.

"But efficient." Evan countered, the Bandersnatch dropping to the ground beside him.

The Bandersnatch dropped to the ground quickly and took up a place at Evan’s left side. Evan reached over and put one hand gently on top of the creatures’ head. *They don’t understand the beauty. But don’t worry, if what Mr. Rose told me is correct then they will soon be glad to have you and your kin around. * Evan thought, the Bandersnatch making a guttural sound that Evan recognized as a slight moan of pleasure. Evan smiled. *Speaking of your kin. Large Café Mocha, with one shot of cream. * He thought, feeling the acceptance of the order from the other bio-weapon. "I’m sorry once again, for having to leave you. But the head of Umbrella broadened my horizons in a way I don’t expect any of you to understand. I do hope that you accept my humble apologies."

Josh looked unnerved. "Sure thing Evan, but what about the killer at your left? Aren’t those a part of the threat that is covering the world?" Stef and Mel nodded, backing up Josh’s point.

Evan’s smile broadened. "True, but these are not a threat any longer." He said as he turned to face Mel more directly. "What was the largest produced bio-weapon at the Peterborough lab?"

"Bandersnatches…"

Evan’s smiled became an almost evil grin. "The head man at Umbrella knew this and gave me the ability to control any Bandersnatch. What was the largest bio-weapon?"

"AN3 Sandworm and the Tyrants." Mel replied.

"Your colleges did tests to see which bio-weapon unit could outlast which correct?"

"How did you…" Mel began, but was cut off by a smile from Evan.

"Which unit outlasted the Sandworm?"

"Bandersnatch."

"How many Bandersnatches did it take to defeat a AN3 Sandworm?"

"Two… and neither of the Bandersnatches suffered critical wounds… both of them were healed within the week…"

Evan continued. "How many Sandworms are in the Peterborough containment pen?"

"One."

Evan held up a finger. "Wrong. None. It got out."

"But… how?" Mel asked, looked over at the other two survivors, both being ostracized from the conversation due to lack of knowledge on the subject.

"Ma7’s, apparently they went berserk and started to break open cages and knock over containment tubes, allowing all of the Lickers, Tyrants, Bandersnatches, 101s and even the Trisquads to escape. I’m not worried about the Trisquads, they would be patrolling, but they would be armed. They should be a simple kill. It’s the Sandworm and Tyrants that bother me. And note that I said Tyrant_S_ plural. This will not be a cakewalk. Oh, and may I remind everyone that Mel’s colleges had trained them to find prey. My guess is that they will be here soon if they already aren’t."

Josh looked as panicked as Evan thought he should feel, but for some reason the sight of the sweat rolling down Josh’s face exhilarated him. "We… We have to get out of here!" Josh proclaimed, unholstering his pistols.

"What’s the use?" Evan said with a laugh. "There are more of them out there. In fact, you should be glad we are not somewhere else. Not to many Leviathans here." He said unholstering one of his own guns. "Now if we were beside a major body of water I would want to be rid of the place."

"Why?" Asked Josh. "What’s the matter with Leviathans? We could just fight them as we always do."

Evan shook a finger and put away his gun. "Wet bullets misfire." He stated simply, turning and walking towards the Library. "I do hope you haven’t changed our room to much Stef."

End

Author’s notes:

(I am badass. That is basically all I have to say… other than sorry for the wait. But I had to think, what would Brian Burtono do? I’m going to try and get the next chapter out quicker next time while still keeping my artistic integrity… sides, now I have the Resident Evil books # 1-4 and 6…. Plus I can always play Resident Evil 2 on my good ol’ 64…. Or watch the movie… or listen to the soundtrack… or buy the figures and play with them pretending that I’m Chris… or maybe Leon… ah who am I kidding, I’m more like Chris…. Oh course then Josh would have to be Jill… or does he fit Claire’s idiom? We’ll just call him Brad Vickers (This is funny if anybody knows Vickers’ nickname). Oh well talk to you next time.)

Evan McNeely can be reached at evanthewanderer@hotmail.com

His new webpage can be found at ebanu0.tripod.com

[Ya, Evan sold out HARDCORE I hate you Evan, and if I were ANYBODY from Resident Evil I would be Carlos from Resident Evil: Nemesis, but hey, I now have girlfriend I have to thank Evan for that, but im gonna punch him in the Gut for selling out! Evan will probably turn against us, causing us to try and kill him but he will get away and curse my name when ever he hears it (Just like Wesker and Chris Redfield) any who’s sorry for the wait but Evan kept the disk at his place.]

(As a note, I never wrote anything about Josh and Mel going out. That _may_ happen, but there are no guaranties. Carlos, phuh, VICKERS!!!)