Gun shots, weird noises...Those creatures....

Jill Valentine turned over onto her side, shifting her covers with her movement. These nightmares...no. Not nightmares. More like...memories, had plagued her dreams ever since the incident at the old Spencer Mansion years ago when she was part of the Special Tatics and Rescue Squad, or S.T.A.R.S. as it was known. That night, all of Alpha's suspicions came true. Umbrella Corp., the world's largest pharmacutical power house, was behind the grisly murders that happened near, and later on in, the nearby town of Raccoon City. Before the mansion, before the nightmarish creatures, she was like everyone else. She didn't want to believe that such a company would be involved in the murders. She even disregarded Chris Redfield's suspicion that one of his friends was killed by Umbrella to keep something a secret. But afterwards...

Thump

Jill sat up, grabbing her Beretta at the all too familiar sound.

Thump

She stepped out of bed, sending one glance at the clock, which flashed 2:30. Just 2:30?

She opened the her bedroom door and stepped cautiously out into the hall.

Thump Thump

Reaching the stairs she aimed her gun in the opened areas around her. She started down the stairs slowly, the noise sounding like it was right on her with every step she took.

Thump Thump Thu-

Pausing slightly at the interrupted sound, she stared towards the front door. After a few seconds of silence, gun shots rang out, forcing Jill to run down the rest of the stairs. As she neared the front door, she barely heard a familiar voice over the the sound of the gun shots.

It can't be...

As she proceeded to unlock her front door, she quickly looked out the window to the right side of it and could barely see the slightly bulking outline of her former teammate. She rushed outside the minute the door was unlocked and proceeded to help fight off the reason why she would stay awake for hours on end some nights.

"What're you doing here, Chris?"

Shrugging slightly, Chris emptied his clip and quickly reached for another. "It's been a few years and..." He fired at a few of the creatures that were nearing them. "And I thought I'd drop by and see what's up." He flashed her a lopsided smile then turned his focus back to their current objective. "Shit..." He fired a few more rounds. "There's no end..."

Jill finished off her own ammo and grabbed Chris' arm. "Come on. Inside." He nodded and followed her, firing at their memory until they reached the inside of the house. Locking the door behind her, Jill turned to Chris. "The window's are shatterproof and the door...well, let's just say its not going down that easily."

A small laugh escaped from Chris as he placed his gun back in it's holster. "Thanks for the confidence boost." He glanced around the surrounding area a bit. "Nice place."

"It's the kind Dad would say was the perfect hit." Jill smiled, the memories she wanted to remember overlapped the ones she wanted to forget.

"Ummm...Jill?"

Snapping back to reality, she stared at Chris. "Right. I'm being rude..." She turned on the lamp closest to her and moved past Chris. "Come on." She gave a small wave of her hand for him to follow and flicked the light switch in the dining room. "Feel free to make yourself at home. I'll be right back."

Chris watched as she headed off through another doorway then looked around. Definately not someplace I would have pegged her to live in. His gaze settled on the pictures that were placed around the room, then let it settle on one that he had in his own possession. As he walked over to it, he glanced at the other photos that surrounded it, most of them being from when they were both in S.T.A.R.S. He picked up the familiar picture that showed most of the Alpha and Bravo members, an unknowing smile played across his face as he glanced at his old friends, most of them who were either dead or missing. One person though caught his gaze, which lingered on them more than it had the others. Albert Wesker. "Trusted" Alpha Captain. Full-time Umbrella operative. Since the Spencer Mansion incident, Chris had ran into his former captain once.

"Back."

Chris jumped slightly at her voice and turned around. "Oh, hey."

Leaning against the doorway, Jill glanced at what Chris was holding. "Good times, huh?"

"Huh?" He followed her gaze to the picture. "Oh. Yeah." He placed it back down on the table. "Good times..."

He still hates Wesker...I don't blame him. Jill let out a sigh and walked over to him. "So...you came here to say hello after all these years? Somehow, that doesn't exactly sound like that's the whole story." She gave him a small "there's more to it so spill" smile.

"Heh..." Chris raised one of his hands and waved it slightly in a playful manner. "You caught me." He let out a small, light laugh and lowered his hand, a serious look quickly covered his boyish face. "I've heard from Leon recently..." He trailed off for awhile, looking like he was trying to collect his thoughts, then shook his head. "Everything's just not right."

She stared at him a bit, then nodded. "I bet." She glanced over at the kitchen. "Want anything? Food? Something to drink?" When he shook his head, she shrugged. "Alright. Help yourself when you do want some-" She stopped and glanced out the only window in the room.

"Jill...?"

"Something's up with them..." She turned her attention to Chris, her facial expression clearly showing confusion. "Usually they would be trying to get inside."

Chris took a hand and smoothed back his hair. "That's what's not right about this whole thing. The T-Virus is still infecting people, but no one's showing the signs of being infected...or at least like we've seen."

-End of Part 1-

Hours had passed since Chris found himself in front of his former teammate's house, fighting off an endless nightmare. Leon's message was one that was too cryptic. He seemed like he was in a hurry...

And what was with his hushed tone? The former RPD officer didn't seem like one to be in a hurry when conveying any information in the suspicious tone that he had given Chris.

"Chris?"

He looked up at Jill who was staring back at him, worry played acoss her face.

"You okay?" She took a seat across from him at the table. "You seem kinda out of it."

Chris shook his head. "I'm just tired. That's all." He flashed her one of his way too famous lopsided grins. "Yeah. That's all."

She let out a small laugh. "I bet." Jill glanced past him at a clock. "It's no suprise. It's 4 in the morning." She returned her gaze to him. "Well, there's a room on this floor that's just used as a storage room, but can double for an extra guest room..." She paused for a few minutes before continuing. "And one upstairs that is a regular guest room...you can choose which one you wish to use."

A few minutes passed before Chris spoke. "So, upstairs..right?"

Jill nodded. "And it's the only room on the left." She gave him a small smile as he stood up.

It's been too long since I've seen that...He nodded and headed out of the dining room into the main hallway, the staircase slightly visable at the end. He began heading towards it then paused as a thought hit him: he had left in a hurry after recieving Leon's call...

And you forgot to pack extra clothes...Smart move, Redfield.

Chris shook his head. If what Leon told me was true, then everything should be fine by later today. And if so, the first thing he would do after waking up would be to go into town. But at the moment, he was too tired to even think about any of the events that had happened.

~~~

After Chris had left, Jill turned her attention to the small window that she had been looking through when Chris had begun to zone out. A small feeling told her that he was hiding something that seemed important, the tone in his voice had brought upon that feeling.

Jilly, you have got to stop thinking that everyone's hiding something. You're being paranoid again.

She sighed and shook her head. "Yeah...I guess I am." Glancing at the clock once more, she stood up and started to head out of the room, shooting another look to the window and then proceeded to flick off the switch to the dining room light and head down the hall towards the stairwell. So far, living in this town gave her that sense of security that she had before the Raccoon City events. And now...

That security has disappeared yet again.

~~~

Chris stepped into the room and took in his surroundings from what he could see from the dim light that filtered in from down the hall. It was a pretty moderate sized. Not too big. Not too small. In between. He walked in a bit further and flicked on the switch next to the doorway and glanced around the room a bit more with the newfound light.

A shelf lined the wall on the opposite side, a few pictures were placed on it: one of the entire Alpha team...minus  "Captain" Wesker...one of just him and Jill and the final one of Jill and her father that Chris had seen countless times.

He glanced over to the bed and noticed a small frame that held the S.T.A.R.S. insignia that the he had once been proud to wear. A small smile crept across his face as his memories of being in the unit began to appear in his mind. He jumped slightly as he heard a soft knock at the door.

Letting out a laugh, Jill leaned against the doorway. "I didn't see you bring in a bag or anything so I guess that means we're going shopping...granted if it's safe." She pushed off from the entrance and began walking into the room and took a seat on the bed.

"Heh.." He took a seat next to her and nodded. "All I did was grab any weapons and leave a note to Claire, and then left."

"Well..." She looked at him, then at the floor. "Since you're tired, I'll let you be." She stood up and headed back to the entrance, and glanced over at him. "Feel free to sleep in if you need to. I'll only wake you if you're needed."

As he nodded, Jill walked out, closing the door behing her. Chris kept his gaze on it for a few seconds before proceeding to remove his gear and falling asleep almost instantly.
-End of Part 2-

Stirring slightly, Chris turned over onto his side, flinching as he met a bright light.

"Huh?" He opened his eyes slowly, giving them time to adjust to the light. After realizing that it was just the sun filtering in through the only window in the room, he sat up and shook his head to clear out the fog that was attempting to pull him back into the world of sleep.

As he started to get out of bed, a knock sounded and Jill stepped inside."Hey."

"...'morning..."

"Actually it's 'afternoon'." She let out a small laugh and shook her head. "Do you always sleep in this late?"

"Heh..." Chris nodded and gave a sheepish smile. "Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I have no idea how Claire can put up with it..."

"Well..." Jill turned her gaze away from him and looked out the window. "I headed into town earlier since it looked like you weren't going to wake up anytime soon..." She paused as she returned her gaze to him. "And everything was normal...like nothing happened."

Chris had started to look away, then turned his gaze back to her. "So...Leon was right..."

"...about what?"

Sighing again, Chris shook his head. "In the message he gave me..." He looked at her then looked away. "I still don't know."

Jill straightened up and walked over to him. "Tell me." When he looked up at her, she continued. "Chris, we've been a team through this. From the beginning of this nightmare. I need to know what's going on."

Tearing his gaze from her, Chris nodded. "I know..." He let out a small laugh. "We've seen hell together and somehow survived..." He glanced back up at her. "I'll tell you about it...after I'm looking better than this.

He glanced down, pointing at what he was wearing and heard Jill laugh.

"Right about that...." She turned and hurried out of the room, returning moments later with a few bags. "I went ahead and got a few things I thought were perfect." She walked over to the bed and placed them down. "I hope I got everything right."

"Is it bad to say that I trust your judgement?" He flashed her an 'I'm just kidding' smile when she gave him a small glare.

"I'll be downstairs." She turned to leave. "If anything's wrong, let me know." Jill left and closed the door behind her.

You need to quit being more cryptic than Leon...Chris shook his head and started to shift through the bags that Jill had left.

______

Sighing, Leon began to sort through everything he had in front of him, the information that he had relayed to Chris at the top of the pile he had just created. It's been a week since I heard from him...He pulled the papers off the top and stared at them blankly. Chris had called him when he was heading out to meet up with Jill, but he hadn't heard from the former S.T.A.R.S. member since.

He flipped to the next page of the information and stared at it just like he had done before. Leon wasn't that worried about Chris, he would survive just fine. But with it being a week...

-Beep-

Leon tore his gaze from the page and looked over at the flashing phone that lay next to him.

-Beep Bee--

"Kennedy."

"Leon?"

Leon relaxed before he answered. "Hey, Chris."

"Hey." Chris went silent for a bit. "What you said was true." Silence.

"Chris?" Leon waited for a bit. "Chris? You still there?"

"Yeah." He heard Chris let out a sigh before he spoke again. "Sorry." A door opened then closed, followed by another door opening and closing. "Everything's alright. At least, from what Jill said when she went into town."

Leon quickly pulled the papers he was looking over earlier and a pen, writing "proven true" across the top. "Anything else?"

Silence...then "No."

Leon was about to say something when he heard someone calling his name. "I'll get back to you, alright?" He heard Chris muffle a 'yeah' then heard the line go dead. He hung up and placed the papers away, calling out a "coming" as he stood up and headed out of the room.
-End of Part 3-

~~~

I am working on Part 4 though I have no inspirtation right now.