***Author's Note***

Hey guys!!!!

I would like to thank everyone who has read and voted on this story so far. I appreciate it all so much!!! You have no idea about how grateful I feel right now because of you readers...

And by the way, I won't be publishing the next chapter next week. But I definitely will the week after that. Don't forget to like & comment!

Peace out homies! ✌🏻

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***Flashback***

July 15th, 2013
| 2:10 pm |

Chris's POV

It's been two weeks since Piers's death. His funeral was held shortly after the viral outbreaks in China and here in the U.S. Like any respectable soldier, I went to his committal with my wife Jill, and our three year-old son, Nathan. Not only did we come, Helena, Sherry, Jake, Claire, and her husband Leon attended as well. A way of paying their respects to my former co-captain.

While we were all there, I could see how devastated Piers's parents were at his funeral—over their eldest son's death. Especially his fourteen year old little brother, Tyler, trying his best to remain calm through of this. All of their eyes were unconditionally filled with tears, as Mrs. Nivans cried and wept uncontrollably into her husband's chest, clutching onto his waist.

Mr. Nivans gently held his wife close to his chest, resting his chin on the top of her head. With tears pouring down his wrinkled cheeks. As I gazed over at the three of them, guilt clouding my features, I couldn't help but wonder what could of happened if Piers hadn't saved me from myself.

If it wasn't for him, I would have probably remained a lost alcoholic—wandering around in the outskirts of Eastern Europe for the rest of my life. I wouldn't have been able to remember my friends, my family, everything. I wouldn't have been able to return to the B.S.A.A. or continue the fight against bioterrorism, despite how much I wanted to retire from the battlefield. Most importantly, I wouldn't have been the father my son needed in his life, and the same loving and caring husband to my loving wife Jill.

I couldn't have thanked Piers enough for what he's done for me, yet he went as far as sacrificing himself in order to save me. While Jill and I were chatting with one another at Piers's funeral, Nathan tugged the edge of my black blazer, using his tiny intricate hand.

"Daddy...?" I picked him up off the ground—holding him protectively in my arms.

"Yes Nathan, what is it?" I inquired.

"Why are you sad?" He asked me, using a curious tone of voice. Too young to understand how I'm feeling currently or anything that's going on around us right now.

"Well buddy, I'm sad because one of my closest friends' is gone."

"Is he lost?" Nathan questioned, not understanding what I meant.

"No Nathan, he's gone... forever," I tried to explain to him, without breaking down.

"Nathan, what he's trying to say is that Piers went to a better place far away from us all. Once you're older buddy, you'll understand this better," Jill told him, sparing me from going any further on the subject.

"Okay Mommy," Nathan acknowledged his Mom, handing him over to Jill.

"I have to go use the potty," He told his mother, tugging at the waistband of his pants.

"Okay Nathan, I'll take you to go find a bathroom. Be right back Chris," Jill left straightaway with Nathan, taking him to go find a rest room to use.

Soon after Jill left, someone lightly tapped my shoulder. I turned around—seeing that it was just my little sister, Claire. She was wearing a black fancy dress, black flats, and a little makeup as well. Her hair was loose upon her shoulders, instead of in a high ponytail this time. Not to mention, her four month baby bump was more noticeable than ever with the dress she was wearing.

"Oh, hey Claire," I greeted her.

"Hey Chris."

"Where's Leon?" I asked her, noting that her husband isn't with her.

"Giving his condolences to Piers's family," Claire answered. "Where's little Nathan?"

"He had to go use the restroom, so Jill decided to take him there."

"Okay. I gotta admit, he looks a lot like you, Chris." Claire stated—stroking her big belly tenderly.

"I know Claire, I get that a lot from my co-workers at HQ. He's only three years old and it already feels like its been an eternity since Jill and I had him."

"Just wait til he's all grown up and married with his own wife and kids Chris. Then, it would feel more like an eternity for you."

"Yeah right Claire. Nathan's got a long life ahead of him and I want to do whatever I can to spend as much time as I can with him. Before any of that happens."

Claire's smile started to fade away, slowly zoning out from our conversation . You could tell she was thinking very hard about something. She abruptly knitted her eye brows, the corners of her mouth quirked down as she shifted her gaze down at her belly. Continuing to stroke it with her hands. 'What is it? What is she thinking about? Is something wrong?' I thought to myself, starting to get worried.

"Claire, are you okay? Is it the baby?" I asked her, with a concerned tone of voice.

She suddenly snapped out of her haze. Glancing back up at me, as she replied,

"No, I'm fine bro, so's the baby. It was nothing, really," Claire reassured me, as a fake smile decorated her lips. "Listen I gotta go, see you later." Claire walked away. Leaving me right as Jill came back with Nathan.

"Was that Claire?" Jill asked me.

"Yeah, that was Claire. I was talking to her while you took Nathan to the bathroom."

"Why did she leave?"

"Claire said that she had to go. She didn't say why though."

November 1st, 2013
| 9:35 am |

Chris's POV

At the BSAA headquarters, instead of training and going over daily protocol with the newly assigned Alpha team members like I have been for the past couple of weeks, I was handling paperwork for new applicants and recruits in my office. Sitting at my desk while going through pile upon pile of paperwork. While Jill stayed at home, to take care of Nathan.

All of a sudden, there was knock on my office door. I sighed and stood up from my seat, walking over towards it. When I opened it a little bit, I see that it's Parker. Standing outside my office.

"Hey Chris," He greeted me.

"What's up Parker?"

"There's something downstairs I need to show you. It's urgent, trust me," Parker stated, urging me to follow him.

"All right," I responded, as I walked out of my office. Closing the door behind me and locking it, before we began treading down the enormous hallway.

"Where are we going exactly?"

"We're going down towards the infirmary Chris."

"Why do we need to go down there?" I questioned him. Not having a single clue at all why he wanted to take me there, out of all places here at HQ.

"You'll see soon enough," Parker implied.

***

Right as we entered the infirmary, the first thing I noticed is that all of the hospitals beds are completely empty, except for the one located in the far back of the room. Laying comfortably within the hospital bed was a young soldier, while being examined and tended to by a nurse. The young man was in nothing but hospital garments, hooked up to both a heart monitor and a drip feed. The strange thing though was that he looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

When I got a closer look at the man, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought that they were playing tricks on me, or that this a dream of some sort. He looked exactly like Piers. But as I walked over towards him, I knew that it was him. It was actually Piers. He's alive...

"Piers...?"

"Good to see you too captain," Piers acknowledged me. Saluting me with his left arm, since his right arm was wounded and completely wrapped in bandages.

"How is this even possible...? I thought you died in that Neo-Umbrella Oil rig?"

"No, he didn't actually. I don't know how he managed to survive without drowning, but he did. Some how. While some B.S.A.A. members were patrolling that area, one of them spotted Piers's body floating not too far off from the oil rig in the middle of the ocean. Turned out that he was still breathing, but unconscious when they found him. Piers was then transported here and quarantined for next few months due to his mutation, put on close twenty-four hour observation since he was infected with a unknown strain of the C-Virus. While he was quarantined, he receiving medical treatment from our top doctors and scientists here at HQ. However, thanks to Jake Muller's antibodies retrieved by Agent Birkin from the D.S.O., the scientists here were able produce a vaccine that treated and reversed the effects of Piers's mutation. Along with a few operations that helped fix Piers's arm. Despite the damage not being as bad as we thought it would be. If it was any worse than it originally was, the doctors would've had to amputate his arm, but he got really damn lucky though. He's been receiving this type of treatment for the past few months. Although, his right arm is good as new, he'll still have many scars left on his arm from the mutation and a few on face, especially around his right eye," Parker explained to me in detail.

"Why did you keep all of this a secret from me Parker? Why wait til now to tell me about all of this?" I questioned him.

"Because I didn't want you grieving so much over my apparent death, then find out that I survived luckily." Piers glanced up at me with his left eye, while his right eye was covered by an eye patch. "Chris, you had a family to look out for. A loving wife and a young son that were worried sick about you. Parker and I thought that it would be best for you to be more focused on being with them, along with your job here at the BSAA," Piers justified.

"Also, when the time was right and Piers makes a full recovery from his mutation, we would tell you about this."

"So, all traces of the C-Virus within his body have been eradicated completely?" I asked Parker.

"Yes. The doctor just told me the results of his last set of bloodwork. His system is now officially clean and he's healthy enough to be discharged from here."

"What about his family, how do you plan on telling them that Piers isn't actually dead?"

"Preparations for that are already being made as we speak. Don't worry about it—"

"Plus once I'm back in good shape, I'll be returning to the B.S.A.A. and continue working in the SOU. Right along beside you, captain," Piers cut off Parker.

I glanced down at Piers, with a dumbfounded expression on my face. "Are you sure about this Piers? Even after everything that's happened to you?"

"Of course captain... Besides, we have a job to do..." He slowly began getting up from the bed, ripping off the cords from the heart monitor off his chest. Causing the green line on the screen of on the heart monitor to flat line. "It's to rid the world of bioterrorism," Piers states as he stood up. Facing me.

"Well then, if that's what you want to do, we'll just have to work together like old times. Right Piers...?" I asserted with a grin.

"Of course captain, I'm glad to be back," Piers acknowledged.

***End of Flashback***

Chris's POV

"Light them up boys!" I ordered my men, using an authoritarian-like tone of voice.

I was utterly shocked, not because of the quantity of them, because the B.O.W.s resembled so much like the Majini Sheva and I faced six years ago back in Kijuju. When we were apprehending Wesker back in 2009. 'How did they get here?'

All of us began firing at the incoming B.O.W.s. The sounds of gun shots echoing throughout the entire streets. Piers went inside the nearby skyscraper to the right of us—sniping from a window located on the second floor. Parker, Flint, Jackson, and I were firing at the B.O.W.s on the front line.

While Austin, Devin, Mark, and Scott had our backs, providing us with cover fire. For every one we killed, more seem to come. As if there was an endless horde of them. We can't keep fighting like this for much longer. At this rate, we'll end up wasting all of our time and ammunition on them. Then, an idea came to mind.

"Chris, we won't be able to take them all down like this! We'll waste all our ammo trying to take them all at once. We need a new strategy! And now!" Parker shouted, over the loud gunfire.

"I know, but I've got one in mind!" I shouted back, as I was reloading my XM8 rifle with a new clip, then cocked it and continued to fire at the infected horde.

In the middle of the road there was an abandoned tank truck, with gasoline leaking out of it and spilling everywhere on the ground beneath the horde's feet. All around the truck were all sorts of crashed cars and other debris.

'If we time it just right, we can shoot the fuel tanker and other vehicles in the area—igniting the gasoline spilling all around the horde. We'll be able to blow them all up to smithereens.' I thought to myself.

"Captain, we have to shoot at the fuel tanks now or we won't make it much longer!" Scott stated, slightly catching on to my idea.

"Not yet soldier! We have to time it perfectly!" I replied.

"But captain—"

"Scott, this isn't the time or the place for your protesting. Get traught or get dead!" Piers interrupted Scott through the comm link. After that, he silenced himself—continuing to fire and kill the incoming B.O.W.s

"Ready........... Now!!!" I commanded my team to begin firing at the cars' fuel tanks. As soon as a spark ignited with the fuel, the tank truck exploded.

KABOOM!!!

The long awaited explosion came—consuming the giant horde of B.O.W.s and surrounding vehicles in its wave of destruction. Annihilating them all without any mercy, and destroying everything in it's path. All of us ducked and took cover behind nearby debris just in time, before the explosion occurred. Once the coast was clear, Piers and the rest of team regrouped near the explosion to inspect our handy work.

There was blood spattered all over the place. Contaminated body parts were scattered all through the section of the road. Even more debris was created from all the destroyed cars and fuel tanker. Some of the buildings were barely damaged from the large explosion. Most importantly, not a single B.O.W. remained standing. The plan worked.

"HQ to Alpha leader. Do you copy?"

I pressed my finger to my comm link. Replying,

"This is Captain Chris Redfield, copy."

"Alpha team, what's your status?"

"We're in the northwestern part of Seattle. Its all gone to hell. Some of B.O.W.s we've encountered are the same as some of the Majini Sheva and I faced in Kijuju back in 2009. Requesting a mission update."

"The mission stands, capturing Jessica Sherawat is the main priority. We can't allow her to get away again. She's fleeing to the Space Needle just about two miles from your current location. Our satellites picked up her trail just moments ago. Proceed with caution, she's highly dangerous. Over and out."

It's been a almost a decade since we lost Jessica's trail. After she betrayed the BSAA back in 2005, no one has been able to locate her. Until we got a tip from one of our reliable sources five months ago that she been traveling from place to place. Selling all kinds of viruses on the black market, while covering her tracks at the same time.

"Great, just great! How are we gonna apprehend this bitch if our only of way of traveling is walking by foot?!" Scott said, as his temper began to escalate.

"Calm down Scott, I know just where to get a good set of wheels. Just follow me," Austin spoke up, as he motioned us to follow him. We all began walking down the street. According to my PDA, we were walking down Pine street.

While we were following Austin, I could tell that Scott was ready to pick a fight with him. Whenever he's moody like this, it spells out only upcoming trouble from him. Even though Scott's a extraordinary, talented soldier out in the battlefield, his temper will always get the best of him when he's irritated. In a way, reminding me of myself when I was younger and more immature.

"Are you sure where you're going rookie? Last time you led us somewhere you led us to a fucking death trap. Where we all almost got killed!" Scott scolded, raising his voice at Austin.

At that point, Scott went too far. So, I stopped right in front of him, ready to reprimand him once again.

"That's enough out of you, Campbell! I won't have you terrorize anyone on this team, not even the rookie. Our job is to rid the world of bioterrorism, not to tyrannize your teammates! One more word out of you and you won't be on this team anymore. Do I make myself clear!?!" I reprimanded him.

Scott lowered his head. "Yes sir," He replied in a low tone, before catching up with the rest of the team.

"How much farther, Wheeler?" Piers asked Austin, as we turned right onto 9th Avenue.

"Only a couple more yards," He replied, picking up his pace.

Right up ahead were two military transport trucks, abandoned in the middle of the road. Just as we approached it, the very first thing we did is perform a perimeter check of the area, before we could see if either vehicle was still operational. Strangely enough, we haven't seen or encountered any B.O.W.s after blowing up that giant horde of them. It's almost like they're hiding.

"Clear!" Everyone shouted one at a time, as we finished checking the area. I treaded over to Austin, right as he opened the door of the one of the trucks.

"Good work Austin. See if you can get those vehicles started up," I ordered.

"Yes sir," Austin replied, as he hopped into the driver's side of the truck. Starting to hot wire the vehicle. He's an expert on just about any type of vehicle. From cars, trucks, to any kind tank and helicopter.

"Captain!" Mark called out to me.

"What is it?" I asked him, as I walked away from Austin.

"You need to see this," Parker added.

When I reached them, I glanced over at what they were staring at. It was horrifying. There was another military transport truck on the road, but it was wrecked and demolished. Worst of all, there were bodies of countless civilians, military workers, and B.S.A.A. troops scattered all over the place. Blood, guts, and body parts covered the road near the vehicle. 'What could've done this...?' I thought to myself.

Piers was standing in front of all of us, frozen from shock. He then spotted something shiny in front of him on the ground. Piers walked a couple feet, before kneeling down, picking up the peculiar inanimate object. I treaded over to him and asked,

"What is it Piers?"

He didn't respond right away, because of his state of shock.

"These dog tags... They belong to my little brother Tyler... He was being evacuated with other survivors... Fuck!" Piers trailed off, as his grip tightened around the BSAA custom dog tags. Our thoughts were cut short when Flint exclaimed,

"Captain, watch out!!!" As he swiftly tackled me to the ground.

I sat up and gazed over at him—seeing right away that a dart penetrated his neck. Whatever that was in the dart, it certainly wasn't a tranquilizer. Flint was groaning uncontrollably from the pain he was in. I quickly removed the dart from his neck—reading the label on it,

'Plaga type 4'

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath, gripping the dart in my hand.

Everyone immediately came crowding around us. Flint was hunched over on the ground—clutching his stomach in pain.

"Looking for me boys!" A woman shouted from a distance, using a seductive tone of voice.

All of us peered over to where that voice came from. There was a window open high up on the skyscraper to the right of us. Inside, there was a woman aiming her semi-auto sniper rifle at us, chuckling wickedly to herself.

"Jessica!!!" I shouted at her, with an enraged tone of voice.