Epilogue

Another Degree of Separation

The Arklay Forest

(Enter REBECCA CHAMBERS)

She'd been about to doze off. She felt like, for the first time in ages, she could finally take it easy. It wasn't likely that there were anymore Umbrella issue walking nightmares about, and if there were, she was fairly confident that Billy could handle them…

The static of the radio made her sit upright with a start. She'd forgotten all about it in all the madness of the previous night (and early morning Rebecca realized, squinting in the sunlight). She had to fumble for the device, twisting the knob until whoever was talking became clearer.

"-found a large building, some sort of mansion in the Arklay Forest" Enrico's voice told her. "All STARS officers are to head in that direction. We have lit emergency flares at the entrance to help guide you in. We'll wait there for Alpha team to arrive and extract us. Repeat, this is Captain Enrico Marini of the STARS Bravo Team. We have found-" After being on all night, the radio's battery finally gave out. Rebecca tucked it into its holster on her belt, then turned to Billy.

"I should probably be going" she said. "My team might be injured. They'll probably need my help."

Billy nodded, but didn't stand up. He just remained seated, staring out over the Arklay Forest below them. "I wonder what that's from" he said, pointing to a line of smoke rising above the tree line several miles away. "That can't be from the labs we were in, can it?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No. That must be another facility. I wonder what happened." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It's over now, or over for us anyway. We can just go back to our lives."

Billy snorted bitterly. "Maybe you can" he said sadly. "Not me. I have no life to get back to. If your cop buddies get ahold of me, that'll be it."

Later, Rebecca wouldn't be sure why she did at that moment, but it just felt right. She reached down, took hold of the chain Billy's dog tags hung by, and tugged at them gently, until the links came apart. Then she placed them around her own neck.

"Billy Coen, ex-lieutenant, died inside that nightmare" she said, gesturing behind him. "Enjoy your life, Billy. Your old one just ended."

Billy stood up, his face a mask of shock. "What? You mean you're going to-Going to just let me go?" Rebecca nodded. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything" Rebecca replied. "It's the right thing to do. After everything we've been through, I won't let you die for something you didn't even do."

Billy looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it. Then he suddenly stood up straight (a position Rebecca's dad would have described as "ramrod"). He brought his right hand up to his forehead.

Rebecca had seen Mat's grandpa salute the flag during the Memorial Day Parade so many years ago, and tried to imitate him. She remembered how Mat had done the same thing once, gotten caught by Mr. Dawson, and then been so thoroughly punished for mocking his grandfather's service record that they had neither one ever saluted again, even when messing around. Mat Rebecca thought. I'm sorry you didn't make it. I'll miss you, my friend.

They stood facing each other for just a few seconds, but in that time Rebecca knew she and Billy understood each other better than they ever had before. She felt like, if they did this much longer, she wouldn't ever be able to pull away from her new friend.

So Rebecca did the hardest thing she'd ever done, and turned her back on Billy, making her way down from to the Arklay Forest, which stretched below in silent splendor.

As she walked away, Rebecca thought she heard Billy say something, the same thing he'd said on the train what felt like years ago.

"Be careful."

That's it. The end of my first novel, Into the Night. I hope it to be the first of many.

There are a lot of people who deserve credit for this project. First, Capcom for creating Resident Evil in the first place. It's a fun world to play in, and they're good enough to not lock the gate.

S.D. Perry's novelization served as some basis for this work. Without being able to reference certain parts of Zero Hour, I wouldn't have been able to finish this.

Youtubbers like NintendoCentral and Cubemario also deserve credit. Their walkthroughs were invaluable in helping someone who had never played the game figure out how it worked.

Even though he'll probably never read this, my buddy Charles helped me revise the first part of the story, which went far on the road toward Mat Dawson not being a Mary-Sue character. I know I still have other kinks to work out, but he's helped me to get on the right road.

Deserving more credit than anyone else, though, is Natureboy3, who was good enough to look over about half of Into the Night, usually getting back to me within hours of finishing a chapter. His contributions provided major insight into how the story should have worked, and he helped me clarify things that were at first reading rather vague. You're a great guy, and I wish you the best.

There are other who deserve credit. Foremost are Jammer69er and Rebecca Is Not Amused, who have consistently reviewed this story for most of its life. As always, getting feedback is great, and you two have been especially good about it. There are others too, but your feedback has been most heartening and insightful in finishing this book. It wouldn't have come into being without your constant encouragement.

Lastly, thanks to everyone else who has read, is reading, or will read this in the future. I wrote this for you.

-Godzillafan93