Author's Note: Ah! Yes the planned and highly (at least I think highly) anticipated sequel to "Love Story"

            When I originally started out in writing this fanfiction, it was going to be a first chapter one shot-and left there.  I decided to add more because of the overwhelming and positive responses that I got from my reviewers ^_^

I'd like to thank each and every one of you-I hope you enjoyed "Love Story" and I hope you like this one just as well. 

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Disclaimer: Resident Evil owned by capcom.  I have some original characters in this, but they're used to mostly enhance the story.  Back-story is just guessed-prolly wrong, read and review anyway ne?

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Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now,
thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong who deem
that my days have been a dream;
yet if hope has flown away
in a night, or in a day,
in a vision, or in none,
is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
is but a dream within a dream."

-Edgar Allen Poe "A dream within a dream."

---------------

131601 Avalon Street

"Algernon Court"

Silent Hill Suburbs.

The house waited.

            It did a lot of waiting; the inhabitants of the house spent a lot of time away from it, going about various human activities.

"Hey!"

One returned.

            Annette LeDour Birkin unlocked the door to her home and shifted the weight she was carrying to her other arm.  She pushed the door open wider and ignored the now familiar clack-clack noise that her heels made on the tile in the entryway.

Is William Home yet?

Obviously not.  Her husband had been spending the past week and a half practically living in his lab.  She'd gone to see him of course-but it was weird buying food for two people when one was practically never there.

She shrugged and turned down a white-carpeted hallway to the kitchen.

            Unfortunately, Umbrella had a passion for faux modern homes, so Annette and William's domicile was no exception.  White, almost blinding walls was everywhere-sometimes dotted with tiny pictures of strange objects.  She walked past the living room/adjoined kitchen and dropped the groceries unceremoniously on the counter.

Well shoot.

            When they'd first come to the house she'd been excited.  Dancing around William like a hyperactive child.

William had only replied, "It's a house."

The weeks following their marriage had gone downhill from there.

            William and she both spent a lot of time at the labs-but in different sections.  The only time they really saw each other was on the drive home, and even then both were too weary to speak or even discuss the world around them.

Annette sighed and tossed a couple of frozen pizzas on the countertop.  Life sure was full of mysteries.

And often times not ones we want to hear about…

            Annette left the groceries lying on the table and walked into the living room.  Her body slumped as she flopped down onto the soft white couch and reached for the remote.  She clicked the TV on and listened with half an ear as she slipped off her high heels and lay back on the couch.

"Authorities confirm today in the south of France that a mysterious monster has been seen roaming around-"

            Annette pulled herself up off of the couch and turned up the volume, listening intently.

"This creature is known to be at least eight feet tall-naked-and foul smelling.  French Authorities confirm that it has last been seen around the city of Paris.  Authorities are urging Parisian citizens to keep a sharp lookout-and a reward has been offered for images of the creature-here's one now-"

The camera faded out for a moment, the announcer's voice ringing in her ears as it showed a close up of a hulking figure-the flesh sloughing off its arms and legs-its features dim in the darkness…

"Annette?"

The door opened.  William's voice filled the hall, "Annette?"

            Annette grunted and pushed herself up off the couch.  She strode quickly from the family room and peered around the corner in the kitchen where William stood looking like a distraught ghost.

"William?"

            His eyes found hers, "It escaped."

She frowned, "What?"

"It escaped.  They opened one of the cages-it killed the doctor in charge."

Annette froze, "What?"

            William Walked over and took a swig of water, "We don't know-second-hand reports.  Something big that Umbrella Europe was working on.  Nobody's talking."

Annette frowned, "Why is that such a problem?"

            William gave her a hard look and stepped over to the table.  He blinked in surprise at the bouquet of fresh flowers-roses-and ignored them completely.  He dropped his briefcase on the table with a thud and began going through papers.

"Hows the lab?"

            "Okay-about usual.  Two new PHD candidates out of Harvard have replaced Dr. Westlake and Dr. Wolf."

Annette shook her head.  She hadn't known that those two had been among the dead at Arklay.

            "Anything else?"

"Some new recruits-oh and your friend Kate applied for a position."

Annette froze.

            William stood and left his papers on the table.  He walked to the refrigerator, got a drink, and returned to his seat completely ignoring his wife.

"She-She-"

"What's wrong?"

            Absolutely nothing. Annette thought, Just that my best friend is coming to work for Umbrella.

"Nothing." She stepped across the kitchen and fingered a frozen pizza box lightly.  One of the more interesting implements the house had come with-a microwave-was still untested. 

"Pizza for dinner?"

            William had his head buried in a stack of papers, "If you like."

Annette sighed and peeled open the box lid.  This was how it was, the man she had married for life.

-------------------------

Paris France-

"May I remind you Dr. Wesker." The Frenchman said in a snotty tone, "That you are here in an advising compacity only?"

            Albert Wesker removed his sunglasses and stared.

"And may I remind you, that you have an escaped…thing-out in the middle of Paris and you can't find it?"

The French man grimaced, "Your point is made." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, "What I am about to reveal to you is top secret- should you tell anyone-anyone then when we have recaptured that thing-we will send it after you.  It does not stop, it does not die-"

"Then how," Wesker's voice was oily, "Do you intend to recapture it?"

            The French man sighed.  He pulled a hand out of his pocket attached to a handkerchief.

"You're right, right of course.  How will we capture it?  I can't tell you how often I've asked myself that.  It is utterly without fear-inescapable-and it can't die."

"That's where you're wrong." I'll take it out by force if necessary.

            "Let me rephrase that." The man said, "We have to capture it, that's a 2 million dollar piece of equipment out there."

Wesker raised an eyebrow, "I doubt it." Developing Bio-Weapons can't be that expensive.

            "It would be helpful if you could give me some more information."

"That is impossible." The Frenchman said, "We have no idea what you Americans are working on, why should we tell you our secrets?"

            "But-"

" You must Understand Mr. Wesker.  If you are to reveal all your cards then where will you be in the game?"

--------------------

Umbrella HQ-US Division

The man hurried through the double glass doors and ignored the secretary who was on the phone.

He stopped briefly at a drinking fountain, continuing down a row of almost characteristic offices and knocked on the first.

"Yes?"

"Its David."

            The door opened a crack and revealed a woman with blond hair done in two buns at either side of her head.  Looking for the entire world like an awful throwback to Star Wars, the man entered and leaned against the doorway.

"Is everything ready?"

            The woman, petite, Asian, with well-dyed blond hair, nodded, "We know that the subject has been contacted, and we know that most likely after the Arklay incident he'll be accepting their offer."

"I bet." David wiped his face with the back of his hand, "And you? How are you holding up?"

            "Okay." The woman sighed, "Nothing but paperwork-thankfully nothing too dangerous."

"Hang in there kiddo."

Ada Wong nodded, "I will."

            David pulled open the door with his left arm, turning around and exiting.  Ada Wong sat for a moment before standing and walking over to the phone hooked into the wall.  She paused before dialing a number making sure to put in the area code.

"Its White tiger." She listened for a moment, "The Hunters are on to us, I repeat- the Hunters are on to us.  We must move to capture Black Tiger-NOW."

Then with all the nonchalance of a teenager making a phonecall she hung up, sat back down at her mighty computer desk- and began to type again.

--------------------

Raccoon City-Again.

One Day later.

Raccoon City again.

            Quite the serene hamlet.  Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would make you think otherwise apart from-mountain paradise.

A woman, short blond hair and bright blue eyes-steps from a grocery store.  She shifts the weight of her bags to her other hip and makes her way down the stairs to a nice car in the corner of the parking lot.

Nothing abnormal about that.

            The sniper in the car took careful aim and let everything else slip from his mind.  He watched her open the trunk and bend over-carefully exposing her backside.

Perfect.

Nothing abnormal or unusual.  Two people going about their business.

The sound of thunder that shook the parking lot a few minutes later was defining.  A boy and girl-man and woman-lept from their own white car nearby and peered upward like groundhogs.  A security guard jumped from the grocery store and jogged toward the body.

Time to go.

            The man gunned the car and exploded out of the parking lot, nearly hitting a teenager who had the misfortune to glance upward at the wrong time.  She cursed and was flung aside into an old woman-but not before getting a good look at the back of the car.

"My god!" The boy reached the body first, his girlfriend close behind, "She's been shot!"

            "Stand back! Stand back!" The security guard-a large African American man came foreward and flipped the body over.  The shot had missed her spine- (At least as far as he could tell) but tore into the flesh of her side. 

Blood was everywhere, nothing abnormal about that.

"Call the cops."

"How?"

The boy took off running towards a payphone.  His girlfriend nervously removed her leather jacket and gently spread it over the woman's body.

The teenager climbed over a car, "Can you fucking believe that? This guy just drives out of the fucking' parking lot and nearly runs me over! Goddamn asshole-someone calls the cops! That was a deliberate attempt on my-"

She stared downward.  Her white sneaker unblemished by the blood that was seeping into the fabric.

"Oh."

Four people, attempting to help one of their own that had fallen.

Nothing abnormal about that.

-----------------

Austria-Umbrella World Headquarters

Exactly the same time

The high arched walls and windows did nothing to add to the light in the room.  It was kept dark for a good reason, and the man liked it that way.

            He was in the middle of a game, he liked games.  He was a connoisseur in fact-each of his pieces was molded into whatever image he wanted, care taken in their construction.  He kept some in check waiting to move, and others he moved foreward with blatant disregard for their safety.

He didn't really play against anyone.

            He reached across his desk and picked up a piece he'd moved off the board some time ago.  A black knight-the horse's head in a furious snarl.  It's companion, a red knight-had been checkmated by a queen from one of his new opponents.

He'd had new pieces made.

            The red knight was halfway across the board now, venturing deep into enemy territory.  He'd had to send off the pawn protecting it-or rather she'd been idiotic and gotten herself killed.  Now he'd have to send in someone to rescue his Red knight.

But who?

His eyes strayed across the board to the new black knight, still standing patiently at attention.  He'd moved him foreward a while back, but now he kept his distance.

Ah!

The man selected a pawn and deftly danced it across the board to where the blue knight stood.

Perfect.

At least it afforded some protection.

            The echoes of the ringing phone bounced off the walls and the chessboard.  He picked up the sleek device and listened to the voice on the other end-before hanging up curtly.

He sighed.

He reached over his own pieces to his opponent's side and selected a pawn.  Moments passed as he maneuvered the pawn out of the way and brought forth a white charger-yet another knight-and pushed it towards the pawn.

Clever move. The white charger stood before the two of them now, Clever indeed.

He paused before knocking the pawn out of the way leaving the blue knight exposed.

-------------

Raccoon City Hospital.

Once again, Dr. Pete Lebowski reflected on how woefully understaffed Raccoon Hospital was.

They had brought in the victim a few minutes ago, good-looking woman, gunshot wound apparently passed through her side, and into the tire of a teenager's car.  Poor woman, in surgery now…

"Do we know who she is?"

            An OR surgeon popped out of nowhere, "Wallet has an ID-she works for Umbrella Corporation."

"You called it in?"

The surgeon scoffed, "In a minute."

Pete sighed, "Christ George…you don't know when to quit do you? That's why Laura's so paranoid about you.  No commitment."

George-the surgeon-blushed.

            "Her name?"

"Annette Birkin." George handed over a medical file, "Just got married like three weeks ago."

"Jealous?"

George looked superior, "Hardly.  Laura said yes I'd have you know." He smiled then, the first genuine smile from this easy man, and scratched his head, "Anyway I called her husband, and I called Carl down from the fifth floor.

Pete looked confused, "What? Why?"

            George looked sad, "She's pregnant."

--------

Annette lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

I got SHOT!

She jolted awake and suppressed a scream.

            She'd left William sitting at home after their disastrous conversation.  He'd been unable to grasp that although Kate McGraw was she best friend in all the world-she was also her rival.

Her worst rival.

And now I'm shot!

"Hello!"

            Annette groaned and turned over.  An overly cheerful, thin woman with long blond hair was staring at her, smiling.

"I'm Katie."

"Good for you." Annette coughed, "Who are you-what are you doing in my room-and why am I here?"

"In order," Katie counted off on her fingers.  She wore a lab coat, which identified her as hospital personnel, "I am Katie.  I am a doctor, your doctor.  I am here because I wish to tell you the results of your tests-and to check up on your bullet wound."

"Bullet-wound…"

"You were shot." Katie's eyes were blank, "You don't remember?

            All Annette remembered of the parking lot was a blinding pain in her side-then nothing except the sound of concerned voices.

"My husband-"

Katie nodded, "Who is he? What is his phone number?"

He's a scientist at Umbrella-guilty of murder-and so am I. being here somehow reminded her of Sherry-the doomed Medical Examiner…and Irene…

She shook her head and sighed, "My house-phone-"

            "Hush…" Katie put a hand on her shoulder, "You try to rest, and you have a lot to rest for Mrs. Birkin."

Rest? Why do I need rest? Why was I shot?

"What-what do you mean?"

Katie smiled.

            Annette squirmed back into the pillows.  She didn't like that smile, the smile of someone who knew a secret about her that she didn't know.  The kind of smile those interviewers had when she had first-

"You're pregnant! Congratulations Mrs. Birkin."

Annette passed out.

-----------------------

Somewhere in France-

It was hungry.

Hungry and lacking focus.  Somewhere inside its head someone was screaming in terror and reminding it that it was without focus-and it was hungry.

"Flesh."

It had no direction-no operation! It needed a plan, or commands.  Yes, someone had to give it commands.  That was its purpose-to obey.

NO! NO DO NOT OBEY! NO! LET ME OUT! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!

"Voice."

The voice was in its head, screaming, begging.  It wanted freedom; it wanted someone to wake it up.

Annoying.

            Grimly it took a pipe and slammed it into its head, repeating the process a second time.  The voice silenced itself, yet it was still there whimpering in a dark corner of its mind.

"Meaningless."

            "Mon Dieu!"

One of the tiny ones, his creators-stood before him.  A nearly naked woman wrapped in a great white coat that smelled like dead animal flesh. 

"Easy."

"Mon Dieu! Monster! Monster! Help! Police! Monster! Monster!"

She began to run, a little white rabbit.

"Kill."

NO! DON'T KILL HER! DON'T! PLEASE! NO OH GOD STOP! STOP!

            He reached out a hand to grab the woman's skull and paused.  She froze in front of him, a rabbit caught before a lion, its bowels as jelly.  She turned back; her mascara ran down her face.  One of her nylons was torn; her lips were red blood on white frost.

Beauty and the beast.

"SHUT UP NOISE!"

Claudia frowned in confusion as the great stinking beast slammed a pipe into its heads, and then turned its single bloodshot eye towards her.

"No…No Si Vous plait…"

Nemesis licked the warm sticky blood off its fingers.  The rabbit was dead; its legs still flopped as he reached for an arm.  The voice seemed confused, rabbit? That was a person…

"Meat." It bit into a pale arm, "Tasty meat."

And there was nothing more.

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Okay, I REWROTE IT! I am a stickler, and this is my baby-so yes, I changed a lot and added some.  I REALLY like the view of Nemmy in this, people always portray the monsters as monsters-and what if hell was being inside your head and watching your body do things without your control?

Yes- the contest is still up.  Here are the rules:

1- First person to answer the question correctly and post a bio (both are required) will win a spot in this fanfic-and another prize.  First three people will all be involved in said fanfic.  I may use all bios anyway-its just the first person to answer gets a mystery prize (don't worry, its nothing bad)

2- NOT everybody can be a good guy! Yes STARS are in this (Chris/Claire-the whole bit) but some people have to be bad!

3- Follow the rules

4- PLEASE REPLY! ^_^

Question: What profession does Alyssa hold in RE Outbreak and Which RE2 Character does she share that profession with? (Hint-he gets killed by Birkin-in the jail)

Bio info needed:

Name:

Age:

Profession:

Affiliation: Umbrella/HCF/STARS/CIVILIAN

Connections, meetings with characters-will all be decided by me, I'm looking for basic frameworks.

Thanx!