Jake stared at the phone in his hand.

Sherry.

She had called or tried to anyway. That meant it was possible she had gotten away. He couldn't imagine Wesker leaving a phone on her. Unless it was a trap. He considered it and then discarded the idea. It did not matter. If it was a trap he was still going to go.

His hand trembled as he stared at the only link to his wife he had at the moment. His other hand curled into a fist as he tried to think of the best way to get to Sherry. He wiped his forehead and looked around for Leon's sparsely decorated desk.

Leon was rarely in the office so his desk looked almost Spartan. They had come here searching for any leads the DSO might have. Leon doing most of the searching with Hunnigan, Jake pacing like a caged tiger.

Jake...Arklay...helicopter....crashed....

He wasn't sure what Arkly meant. Helicopter crash though? She must have gotten away...

"Hero," He said, his voice tremored just a bit and Leon looked up.

"You got something?"

"I think she just tried getting through on her cell phone."

"She still has her phone?" Leon smacked his forehead. "What did she say?"

"There was a lot of static but does 'Arklay mean anything to you?"

Leon froze and his face paled.

"Raccoon City." He looked up at Jake. "I know about where they've taken her, come on we'll get Hunnigan to locate her using her GPS, all our phones have it, it's required. I can't believe we didn't think of it earlier."

Jake whistled appreciating the technology for the first time. Always before he hated it because he was the one having to hide.

Not today.

Leon got up and was moving towards Hunnigans office, located in a different section of their building, he led the way

Jake following close behind trying not to run Leon over in his eagerness to see where Sherry was.

"Hunnigan," he said rushing into her office. "I need a location on Agent Birkin's phone. She made a phone call to Jake."

Hunnigan was still a beautiful woman around the same age as Leon. Her dark hair was pulled back into a professional bun, and the gray had just started to show in it. Her dark skin stood in stark contrast to her pale shirt. Leon had tried asking her on a date once over the phone after a mission. She'd turned him down then, but they got along well.

She hesitated and then snapped forward to her computer and began typing furiously. "You better not be joking." Hunnigan was one of the few agents familiar with Sherry's background. She'd come to admire the younger woman for choosing to join the DSO after everything.

"Don't worry," said Leon, "nothing worse than what I've put you through already."

Hunnigan shot Leon a dirty look complete with an eye roll. "I'll just be happy if there's no repeat of the ESR incident."

Leon schooled his face into a look of innocence when Jake shot him a questioning glance. Not that he cared too much right now. He was more concerned about Sherry's location.

After a few moments that seemed to stretch for an eternity for Jake Hunnigan said, "I've got her."

"Where?" Leon said leaning over her shoulder to stare at the monitor.

Jake crowded to peer over her other shoulder.

"Her signal shows she's in the forest outside the city," Hunnigan said. "If she heads east she'll make it there."

"It's ruins though isn't it?" Said Leon.

Hunnigan shrugged. "I don't know; why would they take her in the first place?"

"Let's go," said Jake, backing away seeing all he needed to see.

"Wait." Said Leon.

"Wait?" Jake snarled. His hands balled into fists. He had a location on Sherry, now was not the time to hesitate.

Leon put both hands up. "Let's gear up first, I've been there before...it was not pretty. And there have been a few incidents since. You don't want to go in unarmed. It won't take long to grab our gear."

Jake hesitated and then nodded seeing the wisdom in the suggestion. The tension left him. "Hurry," was all he replied with.

"Ten minutes and then we're airborne," Leon replied.

Sherry we're coming, Jake thought as he followed Leon away from Hunnigan's office.

Sherry stared at the end of the gun pointed at her, she could barely see it in the darkness.

The pilot had survived his fall, he had a few scratches on his face and a black eye. Blonde hair framed his face under his nondescript military-style helmet. But his cool steady gaze left no doubt who was in charge here.

The smell of smoke still permeated the air growing stronger.

He glanced towards the burning crash glowing in the darkness.

"You have a remarkable talent for surviving, I'll give you that. But I have a job to do. I don't know why they want you so badly but they are paying me generously."

"Who is?" Sherry asked before she could stop herself. She had an idea it was the clone of Albert Wesker, who had actually he thought he and Jake were brothers before he had discovered his real identity. Not that this had upset him. He seemed to relish the idea of being a perfect copy of his father.

"They are also paying me for their anonymity," he flicked his eyes around the dark trees attempting to hide his fear with a shrug. "However I think it is in our best interests to move away from the fire." He pointed behind them where the orange glow was spreading. "You go first."

Sherry nodded and moved forward wrapping her arms around Anja to protect her.

She had recognized the skyline from the air but now that it was dark she was not sure which direction to go except away from the burning.

Anja stirred against her chest, moving her head, the smoke was definitely growing thicker.

"I've seen a few strange creatures before it got dark," the pilot whispered from behind her. Sherry could hear the strain in his voice. Whatever he had seen terrified him.

"What did you see?" She moved forward in the darkness attempting to follow the light of his flashlight as he scanned it back and forth. Praying the entire time that nothing suddenly jumped forward into the beam.

"Something huge," he admitted. "Maybe ten feet, Bigfoot certainly came to mind. But Bigfoot doesn't wear pants."

"Pants? Did it see you?" Sherry turned around holding her arm up as the beam cut across her face. He dropped it down quickly. A bad feeling was rising in her chest. Something tall stalking around in the forest...there were only so many things it could be. But only one creature was coming to mind immediately. Not again.

"You know what it is." It was a statement, not a question. The pilot stared at her.

"I know what it might be," she corrected, not letting him in on the fact that it COULD be a lot of things.

The smoke was thicker now.

"We should run." She said suddenly turning to take off. He did the same, the steady glow was moving faster now. If they couldn't outrun it, then... She let the thought trail off as she raised her arms to shield Anja from the brush.

She might survive...Anja might survive. This guy probably wouldn't.

"So, what might it be?" He asked as they moved forward. He was no longer pointing the gun at her but held it out next to him, ready to use on whatever was out there.

She didn't answer. Never had she felt so defenseless as she did right now. Sherry wanted her own gun between whatever monster was lurking out there and Anja. Although in the back of her mind she knew whatever was in the forest right now would never be as bad as what awaited her in one of the labs here.